MEETING WITH AAA DELEGATION

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
22 Oct 04

On October 19 NKR president Arkady Ghukassian met with the delegation
of the Armenian Assembly of America headed by the vice chair of the
board of directors of the organization Annie Totah. The regional
director of the AAA offices in Armenia and Nagorni Karabakh Arpy
Vardanian was also included in the delegation. The already traditional
visits of the AAA delegations to Nagorni Karabakh aim to get
acquainted with the programs launched by their direct assistance, as
well as to observe the prospects of further assistance to the
settlement of social, economic, educational and other programs that
the government of the republic faces. During the meeting with the
president the members of the delegation, most of them in Karabakh for
the first time, shared impressions from their first visit. Besides
Stepanakert they went to several villages of the republic and observed
significant progress in all the spheres of life in Nagorni Karabakh
and appreciated the efforts of the government directed at removing the
consequences of the war and restoring the ruined economy and
infrastructures. At the same time the members of the Assembly
mentioned that if practically there are no more traces of war in
Stepanakert, in the regions of the republic there are still a lot of
problems to be solved. In this reference they expressed readiness to
use the potential of their organization for further development of
Artsakh. The members of the delegation touched upon the problem of
restoration of the town of Shushi as well. Arkady Ghukassian mentioned
that the government has taken certain steps in this direction,
programs are worked out to re-create the town as an educational,
cultural and resort center. However, according to the president of
NKR, Nagorni Karabakh is not able to solve the problem alone, and it
is necessary to bring together the efforts of the entire Armenian
Diaspora. The president of NKR spoke about the current situation in
the process of settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the prospects
and pointed out the necessity of restoring the real negotiation format
within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group, where Nagorni Karabakh
will be an equal party. According to the president, only in this case
will it be possible to achieve a constructive solution of the
problem. At the end of the meeting the NKR president thanked the
members of the Armenian Assembly of America for their active lobbing
owing to which the government of the USA provides humanitarian aid to
Nagorni Karabakh. According to Arkady Ghukassian, the USA is the only
country which officially aids Karabakh, and the programs funded by
this country help to improve the quality of life of the population of
the republic. Emphasizing the importance of implementing different
humanitarian programs in Artsakh by the AAA, the president of the
republic appealed to the representatives of the Assembly to establish
mutually profitable cooperation in Artsakh, especially that recently
considerable potential has been accumulated in this sphere in Nagorni
Karabakh.

AA.
22-10-2004