INTEGRATION WILL HELP REGIONAL SECURITY

RIA Novosti, Russia
Sept 15 2004

YEREVAN, September 15 (RIA Novosti) – In an interview with RIA
Novosti, Director of the Institute of Civil Society and Regional
Development Agavni Karakhanyan said that as convinced supporter of
regional cooperation, Yerevan thought that deepening the integration
processes within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent
States(CIS) would, in many respects, help ensure regional security,
stability and the resolution of existing conflicts.

Speaking about the positions Armenia would take at the summit in
Astana, Ms. Karakhanyan said that her country, whose economy is at
the stage of a stable development, was pursuing qualitatively new
goals, primarily connected with the necessity of integrating regional
structures, especially in the energy industry and transportation.

“In Astana,” she said, “CIS countries will in principle uphold
common issues: the fulfillment of the most important measures for
developing economic cooperation, which presupposes the formation of
a common legal space oriented toward international standards in the
sphere of interstate relations in the economy and aimed at creating
an efficient mechanism for implementing the decisions and agreements
within the framework of the CIS, firstly, concerning security.”

In her opinion, overall, the goal of the summit will be to search
for ways to effectively use the strong intellectual base, the CIS
countries’ economic potential and their joint efforts for strengthening
both internal and external security.

At the same time, Ms. Karakhanyan said the opinions of the CIS
countries differ with regard to some of the political and economic
problems related to strengthening the CIS.

These differences in economic ideologies have resulted in lessening
cooperation in the real sphere of the economy, which is the basis of
integration. “The need has arisen to revive this basis and jointly
work out,” she said, “and then consistently carry out a common policy,
which is advantageous foreveryone, on gaining access to world markets
and also utilize the strong transit potential and energy resources.”

She said the argument for overcoming all differences in the CIS was
the threat of terrorism and the solving of common security problem,
which can only be accomplished through joint efforts.