ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, US OFFICIAL DISCUSS BILATERAL TIES

Mediamax news agency
7 Mar 06

Yerevan, 7 March: Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan met US
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
Matthew Bryza in Yerevan today.

“There was a detailed conversation about the dynamically developing
and intense relations between Armenia and the USA,” the press service
of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told Mediamax today.

Vardan Oskanyan highly praised the US administration for helping
Armenia with economic reforms, democracy and human rights protection.

“In this context, they discussed details related to the allocation
of funds to Armenia by the Millennium Challenge Corporation,” the
press service reported.

Oskanyan and Bryza discussed the energy issue and in particular the
possibility of diversifying energy supply routes to Armenia and of
developing energy cooperation with other countries of the region.

The Armenian foreign minister outlined Armenia’s foreign policy
priorities, emphasizing the process of implementing the Individual
Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) between Armenia and NATO, as well as
the talks with the European Union on developing an action plan within
the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The second round
of the talks took place in Brussels on 6 March.

Vardan Oskanyan and Matthew Bryza also discussed regional cooperation
and the negotiations on settling the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict
following the meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents
in Rambouillet.