FM OSKANIAN SATISFIED WITH RESULTS OF 2007

Yerkir
09.01.2008 16:06

Yerevan (Yerkir) – Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian, speaking
at a news conference on January 9, said that he is satisfied with
the results of 2007 as no "regress has been seen in our policies."

The progress in the country’s security and other issues is obvious,
he said.

"We have successfully fulfilled issues in the country’s economic
development, we have furthered mutually beneficial relations with
many countries and international bodies, foreign investments in the
Armenian economy have grown, work has been done to ensure uninterrupted
work of communications and energy resources," Oskanian said.

Oskanian said that Karabakh peace talks continued in 2007, adding,
however, that some principle issues have not been agreed upon
yet. He said that the document produced by the co-chairs sets serious
prerequisites for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. Oskanian
hopes that Azerbaijan would show a political will and would adopt a
constructive position allowing for the settlement of the conflict. He
said that during 2007, Armenia had been actively participating in
the talks in the framework of the "Prague process."

"In 2007, Armenia concurred to its principle of settling the conflict
based on the Karabakh people’s right to self-determination."

Turkey and Azerbaijan continued their destructive policy of isolating
Armenia from the regional projects. He said that no essential progress
was seen in the Armenian-Turkish relations in 2007 because Turkey
continues to put forward preconditions for normalizing the bilateral
relations. He also said that Armenia has shown progress in democratic
reforms: the parliamentary election in May was positively assessed
by international observers setting good grounds for the upcoming
presidential election.