VARTAN OSKANIAN: "THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE SHOW HONOUR TO JACQUES CHIRAC"
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 2 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. French President Jacques Chirac’s
three-day state visit to Yerevan (September 29-October 1) passed
at a high level. RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Vartan Oskanian
stated about it after the ceremony of seeing off the delegation
headed by J.Chirac. Quating the French delegation members’ words,
he also mentioned that "the President of France is really impressed,
first of all, by our people’s warmness."
In V.Oskanian’s words, during the days of the visit to Yerevan,
J.Chirac said on some occassions that he simply did not expect such
a warm reception. "So our people showed an honour and expressed its
gratitude to Jacques Chirac," the Foreign Minister mentioned.
According to his information, at RA President Robert Kocharian’s
and French President’s September 30 meeting the interlocuters
mainly stopped on the Karabakh conflict and regional problems. In
V.Oskanian’s words, "President Chirac was really very interested in
President Kocharian’s viewpoint" concerning the nuclear program of
Iran and the whole progress connected with it, events taking place
in the field of the Georgian-Russian relations.
Responding the Noyan Tapan correspondent’s question, if there are
responses by Turkey concerning viewpoints expressed at the September
30 joint press conference of the Armenian and French Presidents,
V.Oskanian mentioned that at the same night he watched news on
international Euronews, Al Jazeera, BBC TVs where J.Chirac’s visit,
especially the statements at the press conference connected with
Turkey, was touched upon a rather volumniously. "I think that the visit
was well covered internationally as well," the Foreign Minister stated.
The RA Foreign Minister found it difficult to answer the question if
visits of presidents of other countries of the (former) Great7 to be
paid to Armenia are expected, after the visit which the President
of France paid to Armenia first. "One thing is obvious that day
by day this region gets bigger importance. Armenia’s regional and
international weight and prestige also grow with Armenia’s political
stability and economic growth. I think that President Chirac’s visit
was not only a result of our two peoples’ historic ties, the French
Armenian community’s factors, but also of the fact that for France,
for other great states, Armenia is really a factor of stability in
this region, a reliable partner," V.Oskanian mentioned, expressing
an opinion that heads "of other similar countries" will aslo visit
Armenia.
As he reminded, the Presidents of Armenia and France emphasized in
Yerevan that the two countries’ relations develop dinamically. "The
more our relations with the European Union deepen, the more important
the role of France will become for us, as France has been in the
leading positions of a country encouraging in the processes of
Armenia’s democratization, making corresonding all its conditions
to the European ones for a quickest integration into the European
structures," V.Oskanian mentioned. He expressed an opinion, that
this direction of the Armenian-French relations "will be dominating,
and we’ll continue our cooperation with France."
The RA Foreign Minister added that the sides touched upon the bilateral
economic cooperations mainly after the working dinner party. J.Chirac
approved proposals made by the Armenian side relating to future
introduction of French business, insurance companies, banks, in
Armenia. "I think there will be positive movements on this occasion,"
V.Oskanian said, adding that "we’ll see rather seriouss activeness
in the Armenian-French relations in the nearest future."