ARMENIA FM TO DISCUSS WIDER COOPERATION WITH RUSSIA
ITAR-TASS, Russia
Dec 4 2007
MOSCOW, December 4 (Itar-Tass) – Vartan Oskanyan, Armenian Minister
of Foreign Affairs, arrives in Russia on Tuesday for a two-day working
visit to discuss matters aimed at deepening bilateral cooperation.
On December 5-6, Oskanyan is expected to meet with his Russian
counterpart Sergei Lavrov, and is to deliver a lecture on
Russo-Armenian relations at the Diplomatic Academy.
A Russian Foreign Ministry official said, "The upcoming talks are
to deal with a substantive and future-oriented exchange of views on
matters of current importance related to the deepening of mutually
beneficial partnership and key international and regional problems".
"The problems of interaction with a view to ensuring security and
stability in the Transcaucasus will be among central items on the
agenda of the talks," the Ministry official pointed out.
Analysts here view the development of versatile contacts with
Armenian partners as "an important factor in the normalization of
the situation in the region, and a settlement of conflicts that are
persistent there".
When discussing the state of affairs in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace
process, the Russian side intends "to reaffirm its commitment to a
political settlement of the conflict within the format of the Minsk
Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,"
the Ministry official said.
The Foreign ministers of Russia and Armenia "are to compare notes on
Russia’s and Armenia’s approaches to a number of principled matters
of international life and map out further steps towards refining
coordination of foreign-policy efforts being made by Moscow and
Yerevan," the Ministry official specified.
Ministry analysts believe that "The multi-tier intensive political
dialogue determines the dynamic development of the two countries’
contacts that has been characteristic of recent years. This creates
a favourable atmosphere for expansion and refinement of cooperation
in various fields".
A stable tendency towards an increase in bilateral trade turnover
is keeping: over the first eight months of 2007 trade grew by 70
percent to run at over $470 million." the Russian Ministry official
pointed out.
"Real prerequisites are manifest for doubling Russia’s investments in
the Armenian economy in the coming years. The visit by Vartan Oskanyan
to Moscow will make a positive contribution to the strengthening
of bilateral relations and will serve the cause of refinement of
cooperation between the two countries in the international arena",
the Russian Foreign Ministry official emphasized.