DIPLOMATIC OFFICE OF SWITZERLAND TO OPEN IN YEREVAN
NOYAN TAPAN
Ju ne 27
Switzerland intends to open a diplomatic office in Armenia, the
Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian announced at the June
27 joint press conference with the Swiss foreign minister Micheline
Calmy-Rey. According to him, the opening of the diplomatic office in
Yerevan will be the first step of founding a representative office.
M. Calmy-Rey said that Armenia is of importance to Switzerland in
terms of its geographic position as it is located at the crossroads
of energy resources. Besides, Armenia has a large Diaspora, including
in the Switzerland.
The Swiss foreign minister pointed out that the two countries cooperate
successfully in such international organizations as the OSCE, the
Council of Europe and the UN. Armenia and Switzerland have a good
legal and contractual basis for bilateral cooperation, in particular,
the agreement on economic cooperation and the agreement on exclusion of
double taxation. The Swiss Development Agency on issues of agriculture
and humanitarian aid functions in Armenia.
M. Camly-Rey stated that Switzerland has serious plans of cooperation
with Armenia in the economic sphere.
E. Nalbandian in his turn said that Armenia attaches importance
to strengthening its cooperation with Switzerland, and bilateral
relations continue to develop quite dynamically. "Since Armenia’s
independence, Switzerland has provided its friendly support to Armenia
in the development, reform and humanitarian directions," the Armenian
foreign minister said.
According to him, the positions of the two countries coincide in a
number of international issues.
In the words of E. Nalbandian, during the meeting with his
Swiss counterpart, the necessity to implement specific steps for
promote economic relations and trade links between two countries
was underlined. The sides spoke about the possibility to ease the
visa regime between Armenia and Switzerland. The Nagorno Karabakh
negotiation process and some problems related to strengthening
stability and security in the region were also dicussed with
M. Calmy-Rey.