KOCHARIAN STARTS KAZAKHSTAN VISIT

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Nov 6 2006

Armenia and Kazakhstan are aspiring to build deeper relations in
the trade and economic spheres, the two nations’ leaders said after
negotiations on Monday.

Armenia’s President Robert Kocharian, who is on a two-day official
visit to Kazakhstan at the invitation of the country’s President
Nursultan Nazarbayev, and his Kazakh counterpart gave a press
conference in Astana after their meeting earlier today.

Kocharian emphasized the positive dynamics in bilateral relations,
the high level of political dialogue existing between the two countries
and good cooperation within international organizations.

He regretted Armenia’s insignificant amount of trade and economic
cooperation with Kazakhstan, a country that he called ‘an undoubted
leader of the Central Asian region’.

"The economic component is the weakest in our cooperation despite
the advanced reforms we have both in Kazakhstan and Armenia and
their consonance, which is a good basis first of all for economic
cooperation," Kocharian underscored.

The Armenian leader expressed a hope that the agreements signed
in Astana will help both counties’ business elites to develop more
active cooperation.

Kocharian welcomed the closer attention of Kazakhstan’s business
circles to Armenia and their serious presence in the South Caucasus.

He hoped that in the time to come this presence will have a greater
impact on Armenia than it does today.

For his part, Nazarbayev expressed his satisfaction with the
negotiations he had with his Armenian counterpart.

"We have confirmed the aspiration of our states to further deepen our
relations through increasing trade and raising our relations to a new
level. These relations will also be promoted by increased trade and
closer economic links allowing Kazakhstani companies and capital to
work in Armenia without fear," Nazarbayev stressed.

During their meeting the sides also discussed contacts in the
humanitarian sphere and exchanged information on the ongoing reforms
in their countries.

Kocharian briefed Nazarbayev on the situation around the
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. "I want to reiterate our commitment
to a peaceful settlement of this conflict," Kocharian said at the
news conference.

He invited Nazarbayev to pay a return official visit to Armenia next
year ‘in order to summarize the results of the annual work of the
Armenian-Kazakhstani intergovernmental commission.’