OSKANYAN RECEIVED DANIEL FRIED

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
March 16 2006

March 16 RA FM Vardan Oskanyan received the U.S. Assistant Secretary of
State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried, who had arrived
in Armenia within the frames of the regional visit accompanied by
the OSCE Minsk group American Co-Chair Steven Mann.

According to the information De Facto got at the RA MFA press service,
in the course of the meeting the parties had discussed a number
of regional and bilateral issues. In part, they exchanged opinions
concerning Armenia’s energy security. It was noted that settlement
of the conflicts in the South Caucasus would allow fully using the
region’s potential. The parties touched upon the situation over
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement and discussed the steps
to be taken to continue the negotiations within the frames of the
Prague process. Vardan Oskanyan and Daniel Fried also dwelled on the
Armenian-Turkish relations, in particular, on the issues referring to
unblocking the border and exploitation of the communication. In the
course of the meeting the interlocutors also discussed the issues
relevant to the Millennium Challenge program and strengthening
democracy in RA.