PanARMENIAN.Net

Sargsyan, Semneby discuss Karabakh process and
Armenia-Turkey relations
08.05.2008 15:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
received a delegation headed by EU Special
Representative in South Caucasus Peter Semneby. The
delegation included Ms. Silvie Bavelar who is in
charge of political questions within the EC Delegation
in Armenia, Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the Republic
of Armenia Serge Smessov, as well as policy advisers
to the EU Special Representative in South Caucasus.

The Prime Minister briefed the guests on the current
tasks and the challenges ahead of Armenia and its
newly formed government and described the steps to
take for their solution. Among priority actions, he
named the efforts towards mitigating the impact of
increased commodity prices, improving and reforming
tax and customs administrations, achieving higher
efficiency in the fight against corruption, getting
the opposition involved in the execution of the
government program, as well as providing for possibly
greater transparency and publicity in all these
processes. The parties have also referred to
Armenia-Turkey relations and the settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The development of
EU-Armenia cooperation under the European Neighborhood
Policy and the continuation of efforts towards the
implementation of the ENP Action Plan have been
emphasized on either side.

The Prime Minister advised that the price problem is
being discussed with the World Bank and the IMF
currently in order to take remedial action as soon as
possible.

With reference to the dialog between the authorities
and the opposition, Tigran Sargsyan reiterated his
previously stated viewpoint consisting in that first
of all we should have a government of responsibility,
if we wish to have a constructive and responsible
opposition. "We must start from ourselves by taking
steps forward in order to win the trust of our people.
I am convinced that our proposals are better than any
other solutions possibly available in Armenia. We have
reached out a hand of cooperation to Levon
Ter-Petrosyan’s supporters. We cannot wait for long as
the problems are numerous and the time is short,
especially as we have already proceeded to action,"
-the Prime Minister said.

Concerning the March 1 events and the subsequent
developments, Tigran Sargsyan evoked the clearly
stated position of the RA President and stressed that
the authorities are interested in an unbiased and
comprehensive investigation thereof.