ARMENIAN MINISTER UPBEAT AFTER MEETING WITH EUROPEAN RAPPORTEURS

Aravot
Jan 22 2009
Armenia

Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandyan has said Armenia continues to make
efforts to overcome the consequences of the unrest that followed the
2008 presidential election.

Speaking at a news conference after a meeting with the Parliamentary
Assembly of Council of Europe rapporteurs George Colombier and John
Prescott in Yerevan on 21 January, the foreign minister said that the
rapporteurs showed "understanding" in their recent meetings with the
Armenian government, Aravot reported on 22 January.

"Armenia has worked and will continue to work with the European bodies
to overcome the consequences of the post-election developments",
the newspaper quoted the minister as saying.

The rapporteurs discussed with the Armenian officials fulfilment of
the country’s obligations to PACE. The organization has threatened to
suspend Armenia’s right to vote in the organization if Yerevan fails
to carry out democratic reforms and release people arrested in the
wake of the riots before the PACE session on 26 January.

Nalbandyan also said that he would approach "a little more cautiously"
predictions that a framework agreement on key principles of the
Nagornyy Karabakh settlement will be signed in the first half of this
year, Aravot reported. The OSCE Minks Group US co-chair, Matthew,
Bryza, said during the group’s visit to the region in January that
there is a possibility that a framework agreement on key principles
of the Nagornyy Karabakh settlement may be signed by summer 2009,
the newspaper said.