RA President’s meetings in Egypt

AramRadio.am
16.04.2007 16:22

The first two days of RA President Robert Kocharyan’s three-day visit
to Egypt were saturated. Arriving in Cairo on April 14, Robert
Kocharyan headed for the Egyptian President’s Office, where the
official welcome ceremony took place. A discussion on bilateral
cooperation, a number of regional, international and economic issues
was launched during the meeting of Presidents Robert Kocharyan and
Hosni Mubarak. Among the issues discussed were the developments in the
Middle East region. At Hosni Mubarak’s request, RA President presented
the current state of settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. `We
have rather similar approaches on a number of issues, and it’s obvious
that our Foreign Ministers can cooperate more actively on these
issues,’ said Robert Kocharyan.

Later President Kocharyan met with the Secretary General of the Arab
League Dr. Umro Musa and Ambassadors of the Arab League member states.
`When the Armenian nation was subjected to genocide in the Ottoman
Turkey, the Arab states were the first to offer help, providing asylum
and rendering necessary assistance to hundreds of thousands of
people. The Armenian nation will never forget the attitude of the Arab
people, RA President said. During the meeting with the Ambassadors of
the Arab League member states, Mr. Kocharyan also turned to the
foreign policy of Armenia, economic peculiarities and priorities,
cultural cooperation and the process of settlement of the Karabakh
issue. In regard to the latter, Robert Kocharyan highly appreciated
the mediating efforts of the OSCE, simultaneously noting that the
process is hindered by the resolutions adopted in different
structures. Through the Ambassadors he called on the governments of
the Arab League states to refrain from joining the resolutions having
nothing to do with the process of settlement of the Karabakh issue.

On April 15 RA President Robert Kocharyan laid wreaths of flowers at
the memorials to the Unknown Soldier and the tomb of ex-President of
Egypt Anvar Sadat. Later the President left for Al Azhar where he met
with Grand Sheikh Said Tantawi.

Eight cooperation agreements were signed after the meeting of RA
President Robert Kocharyan and the Prime Minister of Egypt Ahmad
Nazif. The same day RA President met with the Speaker of the National
Assembly of Egypt, Dr. Ahmed Fathy Sorour. Issues related to regional
and bilateral cooperation were discussed during the meeting.

Mr. Kocharyan gave an interview to the MENA news agency. A number of
events took place simultaneously with RA President’s meetings and
visits. In particular, on April 15 the monument symbolizing the
friendship of Armenian and Egyptian peoples was festively opened in
the yard of the National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Cairo. The
Armenian National Theatre of Opera and Ballet after Alexander
Spendiaryan presented `Gayane’ ballet. The latter will give another
performance in Alexandria.