MICHELINE CALMY-REY: SWITZERLAND IS INTERESTED IN ARMENIA’S BEING ON GOOD TERMS WITH NEIGHBORING COUNTIRES
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Jun 12 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 12, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Switzerland attaches
great importance to the South Caucasian region and is interested
in establishment of peace and democracy there. Micheline Calmy-Rey,
Vice-Chairwoman of the Swiss Confederation’s Federal Council, Swiss
Foreign Minister, declared this at the June 12 meeting with RA Prime
Minister Andranik Margarian. According to her, her country pays a great
attention to the issues of security and migration in the region and is
ready to discuss the issue of simplification of the visa regime. As
Mrs Micheline Calmy-Rey characterized, Switzerland is interested
in Armenia’s (occupying a central position in the South Caucasus)
being on good terms with the neighboring countries. According to
her, as OSCE member her country is interested in the peaceful and
quick settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem and strains every
effort for achieving this within the framework of the OSCE Minsk
Group. The Swiss Foreign Minister once more affirmed the readiness of
her country to render assistance in establishment of a constructive
dialogue between Armenia and Turkey. She emphasized that though the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Swiss parliament, as well
as the law on punishment for the denial of the Genocide have created
some tension in the relations with Turkey in the recent period,
the Swiss authorities are firm in their position relating to this
issue. Emphasizing the importance of the process of democratization
for establishment of regional stability and security, Mrs Calmy-Rey
asserted that her country approves the efforts of the Armenian
government aimed at continuing the reforms in the other spheres of
economy, for the purpose of bringing them in correspondence with the
European standards. Andranik Margarian and Micheline Calmy-Rey once
more confirmed the readiness of the two countries’ governments to
develop Armenian-Swiss political and economic cooperation.