ARMENIAN LEADER DISCUSSES TIES, KARABAKH, TURKEY IN UK

Public Television of Armenia
Feb 11 2010

[Presenter-read report over video of meetings] Queen Elizabeth II has
received [Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan at Buckingham Palace
within the framework of his working visit to the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Prospects for developing
Armenian-British bilateral ties, the process of Armenia’s European
integration, and normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations were
discussed.

At his London residence, the [Armenian] president received UK
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David
Miliband. Sargsyan said that our country attaches great importance to a
further expansion of political dialogue and development of economic and
trade relations with the United Kingdom and is interested in expanding
cooperation in different areas. Regional security, normalization
of Armenian-Turkish relations and the process of Karabakh peace
talks were discussed. Miliband welcomed the efforts of the Armenian
president aimed at normalizing relations with Turkey and noted that
the United Kingdom backs this process and is interested in the cause
of strengthening of peace in our region.

The president met Prince Charles at Windsor Palace. Sargsyan
attended a reception on the occasion of the launch of the Yerevan –
Im Ser [Yerevan – My Love] project initiated by Prince Charles and a
former Armenian prime minister, Armen Sargsyan, and the concert that
followed it.

[Passage omitted: more on the concert and the Yerevan – Im Ser charity
project that will support restoration of historical buildings in
Yerevan; representatives of Armenian diaspora attended the reception]

Sargsyan also held a separate meeting in London with Armenian
businessmen and well-known Armenian public figures who had arrived
from around the world. The president said their continuous work in
the sphere of Armenia’s and Artsakh’s [Karabakh’s] economic progress,
strengthening of ties with motherland and in the cause of preservation
of Armenian identity within Armenian communities in the diaspora was
invaluable. Sargsyan expressed confidence that it would be possible
to overcome problems by joining forces and to decisively advance on
the path of implementation of national wishes.