ARMENIAN PRESIDENT TO VISIT RUSSIA

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Oct 24 2006

YEREVAN, October 24. /ARKA/. On October 30-31, 2006, Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan will be on a visit to Russia.

The Armenian state leader’s regular visit is supposed to raise the
level of Armenian-Russian partnership, reports the press service of
the RF Embassy in Armenia.

The year 2005 was marked as a Year of Russia in Armenia, and 2006 is
a Year of Armenia in Russia.

Successful implementation of large-scale projects facilitated the
intensification of public and business initiatives, expansion of
economic, scientific, technical, information and cultural cooperation

During his visit, the Armenian President is to hold discussions
the most topical issues of bilateral cooperation, implementation
of top-level agreements on further development of Russian-Armenian
cooperation, particularly in the fuel, energy and transport spheres, as
well as in direct economic ties between Russian and Armenian regions.

The sides are also to exchange views on the development of cooperation
within the CSTO, further consolidation of the organization to meet new
challenges. The CIS problems will be an important item on the agenda.

The sides will focus their attention on the coordinating efforts toward
improving the situation in the Caucasus, creation of an atmosphere of
confidence for establishing of cooperation in the region and settling
conflicts on this basis.

Special emphasis will be laid on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.

"Welcoming the Armenian-Azerbaijani dialogue at different levels, first
of all between the two countries’ Presidents, Russia believes that
the conflicting parties’ themselves must find a mutually acceptable
settlement of the conflict," states the RF Embassy. Russia is ready
to render active assistance both at the bilateral level and as OSCE
Minsk Group Co-Chairman, as well as be a guarantor of the agreement.

Armenian-Russian relations are an alliance and are marked by positive
dynamics in their development. Effective multipronged bilateral
cooperation has a solid legal basis – an Agreement on friendship,
cooperation and mutual assistance, Declaration of allied cooperation
in the 21st century.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress