Hayots Ashkharh Daily, Armenia
Oct 20 2007

PRIME MINISTER’S US MEETINGS

Within the frameworks of his visit to the United States, Prime
Minister Serge Sergsyan had a meeting with Robert Gates, the US
Secretary of Defense on October 18.
Touching upon the high level of relations between the United
States and Armenia, the Prime Minister expressed satisfaction with
the development of the bilateral military political cooperation as
well as gratitude to the American side for providing continuous
assistance to the armed forces of Armenia.
In his turn, Robert Gates highly appreciated Armenia’s
participation in the anti-terrorist coalition, as well as the
Armenian forces’ peacekeeping mission in Iraq. The parties discussed
the issue of Armenia’s further participation in the Iraqi
reconstruction activities. They also touched upon the possibility of
Armenia’s involvement in the coalition efforts of Afghanistan.
With regard to the issue of providing a US military support to the
South Caucasian countries, Serge Sasrgsyan particularly attached
importance to maintaining proportionality while providing military
assistance to Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Touching upon the Karabakh conflict, Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan
reconfirmed that Armenia sticks to the idea of peaceful and speedy
conflict settlement through mutual concessions. He expressed hope
that the current discussions within the frameworks of the Minsk Group
will produce a desirable result. Robert Gates once again reconfirmed
that the United States supports the efforts aimed at the peaceful
conflict settlement within the frameworks of the OSCE Minsk Group.
After the meeting with the US Secretary of Defense, the Prime
Minister paid a visit to the central office of `Millennium
Challenges’ Corporation (MCC), where a meeting was held between the
Head of the Armenian Government and Ambassador John Danilovich, the
MCC Chief Executive Director.
Touching upon the issue of the Armenian-American economic
cooperation, the Prime Minister highly appreciated Armenia’s
involvement in the `Millennium Challenges’ American program, which is
mostly targeted at promoting economic development and reducing
poverty in rural areas.
Ambassador Danilovich spoke about the Governing Council’s session
which is going to be held in November with the purpose of discussing
the annual executives of the state parties. He mentioned that in its
preliminary report, the office gives a positive assessment to
Armenia’s 2007 executive. The Prime Minister noted that in accordance
with the `Millennium Challenges’ 2007 country development
classification, Armenia has made a transition from a `low-income
country’ to a `medium-income country’. And this pushes Armenia to a
more active and consistent work. Mr. Sargsyan added that the
Government of Armenia has enshrined more pretentious goals in the
2008 State Budget, and the activities carried out in that direction
will have their positive impact on the MCC indices as well.
During the second half of the day, Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan
had a meeting with the US Vice President Richard Chaney in the White
House. A wide range of issues regarding the Armenian-American
relations were discussed during the meeting.
Touching upon the high level of the Armenian-American relations,
the Prime Minister emphasized the willingness of continuing and
deepening them, as well as expressed gratitude for the US political
and economic assistance provided to Armenia after gaining
independence. With regard to the process of the democratic reforms
currently under way in Armenia, the Prime Minister mentioned that the
RA authorities are determined in their efforts to build a modern
democratic state. Vice President Richard Chaney once again
underscored the United States willingness to continue supporting
Armenia in the process of implementing those reforms.
During the meeting which lasted longer than expected the parties
thoroughly discussed the current political process in the Near East;
they also touched upon the settlement of the NKR conflict and the
Armenian-Turkish relations. Introducing Armenia’s attitude towards
the issue, Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan mentioned that although the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide continues to remain on the RA
foreign policy agenda, the country is ready to take practical steps
for regulating the relations with Turkey without preconditions.
With regard to the Karabakh issue, Head of the Armenian Government
mentioned once again that Armenia sticks to its attitude towards
peaceful and speedy settlement of the Karabakh conflict. He expressed
hope that the negotiations held within the frameworks of the Minsk
Group will finally produce positive results.
Vice President Chaney reconfirmed the United States interest in
the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations and welcomed the
fact that during his visit to the United States the RA Prime Minister
appointed a number of meetings with the representatives of the
Armenian community.
The delegation led by Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan left
Washington for Los Angeles in the evening of October 18.