EU DELEGATION WRAPS UP VISIT TO ARMENIA

Public TV, Armenia
Feb 6 2008

[Presenter] The three-day visit of a senior EU delegation to the region
has ended. Senior EU officials summarized the results of their visit
to Armenia in Yerevan today.

Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said that three major issues were
on their agenda – the European Partnership Programme, Europe-Armenia
bilateral relations and regional issues and, of course, the forthcoming
presidential election. Both Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel,
who chairs the European Union, and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European
commissioner for external relations and European Neighbourhood Policy,
voiced hope that the February election would be better than the
[Armenian] parliamentary election held last May in terms of freedom,
democracy and transparency standards.

[Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, in English with Armenian
voice-over] Hopefully or maybe, new people will be in senior offices
after the election, but I suppose the leaders will represent the
national position. And I consider it cannot change in one day in
the South Caucasus. When there is a new generation of leaders, the
modernization will continue. The election should be used to show how
democracy is developing.

[Ferrero-Waldner, in English with Armenian voice-over] We are in
the middle of the path, but work still needs to be done to ensure
progress in the fields of economy, human rights, investment and
democracy. We hope that the forthcoming election will be freer and more
transparent compared to the previous ones monitored by international
observers. Although we know that the previous indices were quite good.

[Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan] With this visit we
have once again proved our commitment to the principles adopted by
Armenia, we have proved that we implement them more consistently,
and the European Union has once again confirmed its commitment to
seeing a peaceful, developed and democratic society in this region.

[Correspondent] Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European commissioner for
external relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, said in an
interview with Armenian Public TV today that she had visited Armenia
for at least five times since 2000 and that she could see progress in
our country every year. Since November 2006, when the Armenia-EU Action
Plan came into effect, Armenia has recorded significant progress in
the implementation of its commitments. But we are still on this path,
the official said. In this context, she attaches great importance
to the presidential election in Armenia. Asked whether a visit of
an EU representative to Karabakh is planned in the near future,
Ferrero-Waldner said that it was early to say something definite
at this moment but that the European Union wanted to be involved in
this process.

[Ferrero-Waldner, in English with Armenian voice-over] We would like to
be involved in the negotiations process. Being the European Union, we
would like to be present there, this will mean increased confidence,
as it is very important that the populations see that there is
progress. I am sure that a settlement will be found to the conflict.