ARMENIAN AND LEBANESE FOREIGN MINISTERS DISCUSS ISSUES ON AGENDA OF
BILATERAL COOPERATION

YEREVAN, JULY 11, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On July 11, RA
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian received Lebanese Foreign Affairs
and Diasporan Minister Fawzi Salloukh who is in Armenia on a three-day
official visit.

The sides expressed satisfaction that Armenian-Lebanese relations
are based on the centuries-old friendship, mutual sympathy and many
communities between the peoples.

Minister Oskanian said that Armenia highly evaluates the warm attitude
of the Lebanese people to the Armenian people after the Armenian
Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and attaches importance to the Armenian
community’s role in strengthening of bilateral relations.

In response, the Lebanese Foreign Minister emphasized that the
Armenian community of Lebanon played a great role in the country’s
restoration after the war and now continues to play a positive role
in the country’s internal life.

The Minister specially emphasized the role of a bridge of the community
in the relations between the two countries.

The interlocutors discussed issues on the agenda of bilateral
cooperation paying a special attention to deepening of cooperation
in the economic sphere.

They attached importance to organization of the meeting of the
Armenian-Lebanese Intergovernmental Economic Commissions in the
future. The sides also touched upon issues relating to development
of the legal-contractual base and cooperation at international
organizations between the countries.

The meeting participants also touched upon the developments around
the Iranian nuclear programs, Iraqi events, Israel-Palestine conflict,
as well as the current developments in the Nagorno Karabakh settlement
and other problems of the Caucasian region.

Below is the biographical data of the Lebanese Foreign Minister
provided to NT from RA Foreign Ministry Press Service:

Fawzi Salloukh was born in 1931 in Lebanon. In 1960 he was admitted
to the system of Lebanese diplomatic service. In 1978-1985 he was
the Ambassador of Lebanon in Nigeria, in 1985-1987 in Algeria. In
1990-1994 he was Ambassador in Austria, simultaneously representative
of Lebanon in UN and International Nuclear Energy Agency. In 1994-1995
he was the Ambassador of Lebanon in Belgium, Luxemburg, simultaneously
a representative in EU.

He has published books in Arabian, has been awarded numerous orders.

He is married, has three children.