ITALY WELCOMED SIGNING OF PROTOCOLS, HOPES WILL BE RATIFIED SOON, SAYS FOREIGN MINISTER
Tert
Nov 24 2009
Armenia
RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian left for Italy on
November 23 for a brief business visit.
In Rome, Nalbandian met with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini,
informs the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs press and information
department.
Discussed during the talks were different dimensons of Armenia-European
Union cooperation, the steps to be taken to promote bilateral
cooperation within the frames of the European Neighbourhood Policy
and Eastern Partnership Program.
Frattini welcomed and expressed Italy’s support of the steps taken to
establish Armenia-Turkey relations. In this regard, he stated that
Italy enthusiastically welcomed the signing of the Armenian-Turkish
Protocols and expressed hope that they will be ratified soon, which
will provide the opportunity to open the Armenia-Turkey border.
The ministers placed importance on the signing of a Memorandum of
Mutual Understanding, emphasizing that its application will promote
activation of political dialogue.
Nalbandian and Frattini discussed the opportunity to simplify the
procedure of getting entry visas between Armenia and the European
Union, noting that it will promote contact between the Armenian public
and the European community.
The parties stated with satisfaction that there is an adequate
legal-contractual field for broadening trade-economic cooperation
and tendency to stimulate economic ties, as Italian investments in
Armenia substantially increased in 2009.
At the request of his Italian colleague, Nalbandian presented
the latest developments in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict and the results of Sunday’s meeting between the Armenian
and Azerbaijani presidents in Munich.
Gratefully accepting the Armenian foreign minister’s invitation,
the Italian foreign minister assured him that he will visit Armenia
in the first half of 2010.
Before the meeting, the ministers signed the Memorandum of Mutual
Understanding on High-Level Political Consultations between the foreign
ministries of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Italy and
the Agreement on Economic Cooperation between the governments of the
Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Italy.