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Minister Edward Nalbandian met US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice and US
high ranking officials
On July 14 Minister Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with US State Secretary
Condoleezza Rice.
At the beginning of the meeting Minister Nalbandian stressed Armenia’s
determination to enhance and deepen relations with the US in all possible
areas and pursue development and strengthening of friendly partnership and
expansion of cooperation between the two countries.
Armenian Foreign Minister and US State Secretary noted that the history and
traditions of Armenian – US relations, the wide legal base and mutual
political will provide an opportunity for developing bilateral ties in
different areas.
Minister Nalbandian highly appreciated US Government projects, aimed at
development of different fields of Armenian economy and the US assistance of
about 1.9 milliard US dollars since the Armenian independence.
The two discussed the recent developments of the Nagorno Karabakh peace
process. In this context it was mentioned that the problem can be solved
only by means of peaceful negotiations, which are being conducted within
the frameworks of the OSCE Minsk Group. They highly appreciated the efforts
of the Minsk Group Co-chairs and stressed the importance of continuation of
talks on the base of the Madrid proposals of 2007, which creates possibility
to register a progress in the peace process.
Speaking on the perspectives of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations,
Minister Nalbandian reaffirmed Armenia’s readiness to establish diplomatic
relations and opening of Armenian-Turkish border without any preconditions.
Edward Nalbandian also presented the steps undertaken by Armenia in this
direction.
The two also discussed the Senate confirmation process of the US Ambassador
nominee to Armenia. In this context, Minister Nalbandian, expressed hope,
that the candidature of the new Ambassador would soon be confirmed and her
arrival in Armenia would have a positive impact for further development of
bilateral relations.
The ceremony of signing of "Joint Action Plan between the Government of the
Republic of Armenia and the Government of the United States of America on
Combating Smuggling of Nuclear and Radioactive Materials" took place after
the meeting,. The document was signed by Minister Nalbandian and State
Secretary Rice.
On the same day, Minister Nalbandian met Assistant to the US President,
Deputy Adviser of the US President on National Security, Ambassador James
Jeffrey. In the course of the meeting the sides focused on the Armenian-US
partnership in the security area, the process of Armenia-NATO cooperation,
as well as issues of regional security and stability. Minister Nalbandian
and Ambassador Jeffrey exchanged ideas on the Nagorno-Karabagh
peace-process, normalisation of Armenian-Turkish relations and number of
issues of mutual interest.
On July 14, in the afternoon Minister Nalbandian was received at the US
Congress, where he met with Chairman of Foreign Relations Committee of the
House of Representatives Howard Berman. Armenian Foreign Minister highly
appreciated the role of the US Congress in the process of development of
Armenian-US relations and years-long attention by the US Senate and the
House of Representatives paid to the issues related to Armenia.
On the request of Congressman Berman, Minister Nalbandian presented recent
developments in the Nagorno Karabakh peace-process, perspectives of
settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations, as well as Armenia’s approaches on
the regional and international issues. Howard Berman noted, that his
Commission attaches importance to development of cooperation with Armenia
and will continue to make efforts in this direction
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
