MICHELINE CALMY-REY: SWITZERLAND HAS GREAT POTENTIAL OF SYMPATHY FOR ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Jun 12 2006

YEREVAN, JUNE 12, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Today the
Armenian-Swiss relations are developing dynamically in all
directions. A serious dialogue on the problems of the South Caucasian
region, on the Nagorno Karabakh problem and other issues is being
conducted between the two countries. This was mentioned at the June 12
joint press conference of Armenian and Swiss Foreign Ministers Vartan
Oskanian and Micheline Calmy-Rey in Yerevan. At the same time, both
Ministers pointed out that the level of the economic relations between
Armenia and Switzerland is inferior to the political relations between
the countries. According to Vartan Oskanian, there is a great potential
for development of bilateral relations in the sphere of economy and
at this meeting with his Swiss colleague the very development of
economic ties was accentuated, to which the agreement “On Avoiding
Double Taxation” signed today will contribute.

Vartan Oskanian expressed confidence that this visit of the
Swiss Foreign Minister will become a stimulus for development of
Armenian-Swiss relations. In her turn, Micheline Calmy-Rey mentioned
that the Swiss government renders assistance to Armenia in the
sphere of agriculture, in solution of the refugees’ problems, in
fighting natural calamities. At present Switzerland has already
allocated 28 mln Swiss francs to Armenia for implementation of
these programs. “Switzerland has a great potential of sympathy
for Armenia and we should consider in this context activity of our
public circles on drawing attention to Armenia and first of all to
the Armenian Genocide recognized by Switzerland,” Micheline Calmy-Rey
declared. According to her, Switzerland tries to provide assistance
in normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, true, it has given
no results yet. She also emphasized that Switzerland condemns the
destruction of 12 thousand khachkars (cross-stones) in Nakhichevan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress