ARMENIA MAY BECOME EU MEMBER EVEN EARLIER THAN NORWAY, THINKS SPEAKER
OF NORWEGIAN PARLIAMENT

YEREVAN, JUNE 23. ARMINFO. In 2006, the Norwegian Council for Refugees
will allocate Armenia $5-6 mln, Speaker of Armenian Parliament Artur
Baghdasaryan made this statement at a joint press conference in
Yerevan with Chairman of Norwegian Parliament Jorgen Kosmo.

Artur Baghdasaryan says that Armenian-Norwegian cooperation was at a
low level, but such visits will contribute to activation of bilateral
relations. He put the stress on the necessity of activating the
cooperation of the two countries’ parliamentary delegations in
international structures. He also pointed out the necessity of
deepening the Armenian-Norwegian cooperation in the sphere of economy,
agriculture, science, education and culture. Baghdasaryan says an
Armenian-Norwegian deputy group of friendship is created at the
Armenian Parliament, which will contribute to bilateral
inter-parliamentary cooperation. The speaker of the Armenian
parliament highly appreciated the activity of the Norwegian
Development Agency in Armenia.

In his turn, Kosmo highly appreciated the role of Armenia in
establishment of peace and stability in the South Caucasus. He pointed
out that Armenia might become a member of the EU much more earlier
then Norway. He pointed out the necessity of political solution to
urgent problems of the South Caucasus and development of democracy in
the region, promising contribution of Norway to it. He thinks it is
time to develop Armenian-Norwegian political and economic ties. Kosmo
pointed out the necessity of activation of bilateral cooperation in
the sphere of energy. He says not only Armenia but also the whole
South Caucasus is interesting for Norway from the point of view of
economy. As this region can become a new market for Norwegian
goods. He pointed out that Armenia had a great potential for
development of tourism and that the issues of the bilateral
cooperation would be discussed in details in the course of a
forthcoming visit of Armenian parliamentary speaker to Norway.