ARMENIA’S SARKISYAN TO FORM FOUR-PARTY GOVERNMENT

ITAR-TASS
April 9 2008
Russia

MOSCOW, April 9 (Itar-Tass) – The first move by Serzh Sarkisyan in
the capacity of Armenia president is to form a coalition government
consisting of four parties represented in the National Assembly.

Sarkisyan said so ahead of his inauguration in Yerevan on Wednesday.

"Our country is going along the difficult path of establishing
statehood. Overcoming an economic crisis, difficult social conflicts,
and party- and ideological contradictions, we’re building new life,"
Sarkisyan said in an interview published by the newspaper Rossiiskaya
Gazeta on Wednesday.

He believes it important that political events in Armenia develop on
the basis of "guarantees of freedom and equality, the supremacy of
law and principles of ensuring democracy."

"My work will be aimed at implementing it," the president-elect added.

One of the government priorities is to fight corruption and poverty.

"The government will make the maximum efforts to ensure poverty
decrease. We’ll be doing everything to defeat the unemployment in
Armenia and improve the standard of living of ordinary citizens,"
Sarkisyan underlined, noting that Robert Kocharyan "has done much in
this field."

The government is setting an ambitious task – to win, in the regional
competitive struggle, an international recognition as a country
providing the best conditions for entrepreneurship and investments,
Sarkisyan said.

"It is necessary that the largest companies be restructured into public
companies with social responsibility," he said, "both Armenian citizens
and foreign investors should have the opportunity to participate in
the capital of these enterprises."

He expressed confidence that Russian-Armenian economic cooperation
would be "getting stronger."

"Many serious joint projects have appeared in the recent years.

Russian capital is present in various branches of the Armenian economy,
such as power generation, nuclear industry, banking industry and
telecommunications," Kocharyan said.

As for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Sarkisyan said
"Armenia is ready for its settlement by peaceful means, within the
framework of the OSCE Minsk Group."

The president-elect believes "the settlement issue should be
based on the people’s right to self-determination, recognized by
the international community; to this end, the conditions for its
realization should be crated. In addition, the safety of Nagorno
Karabakh’s population and borders should be ensured."