PRIME MINISTER MEETS CONDOLEEZZA RICE
Hayots Ashkharh Daily, Armenia
Oct 25 2007
Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan had a meeting with the US Under-Secretary
of State Ruben Jeffrey in the morning of October 23, the last day of
his visit to the United States.
There was a discussion on issues concerning the current stage and
the future of the Armenian-American economic relations; the parties
thoroughly touched upon the activity of the Armenian-American working
group and issues concerning the further improvement of the investment
atmosphere in Armenia.
The Under-Secretary of State mentioned with satisfaction that the US
authorities were happy to see the serious results attained in Armenia
due to the American assistance.
PM Serge Sargsyan mentioned that during the recent years Armenia has
done considerable work towards creating strong grounds, and the task of
the Government is to speed up the development paces still further. The
parties shared the opinion that Armenia has to be competitive on the
world scale, in order to be a winner on the investment market.
Within the frameworks of his visit the Prime Minister had a meeting
with the US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice.
A wide scope of issues was discussed during the meeting. Touching
upon Armenia’s current democratic and economic reforms, Serge Sargsyan
introduced the RA authorities’ continuous efforts in that direction. In
particular, he mentioned that after the last parliamentary elections
Armenia established serious grounds for pursuing the initiatives
aimed at the improvement of the electoral processes.
Condoleezza Rice expressed willingness on behalf of the US Government
to assist Armenia in solving the technical problems that may emerge
while organizing the 2008 presidential elections. The parties also
discussed the current stage of the Karabakh peace settlement process,
stated the importance of speeding it up to the greatest possible
extent.
Serge Sargsyan particularly mentioned that Azerbaijan’s bellicose
statements (recently growing in number) do not absolutely contribute
to the peaceful settlement of the process.
The relations of Armenia with the other neighbors, security and energy
issues, Armenia’s participation in international peacekeeping missions
and other issues of mutual interest were discussed during the meeting.
During the second half the day PM Serge Sargsyan had a meeting with
the members of the Armenian Congress of America, under the leadership
of Hrayr Hovhannisyan. Issues concerning the organization’s further
activities and programs were discussed; ideas were exchanged with
regard to the challenges currently faced by Armenia.