ARMENIA FM TO DISCUSS ENERGY SECURITY AND KARABAKH IN MOSCOW
ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 6 2006
MOSCOW, April 6 (Itar-Tass) – Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan
intends to discuss energy security and a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement
during his Moscow visit. He expressed this idea in an interview with
the Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper, published on Thursday. The foreign
minister arrived in Moscow on Wednesday evening on a three-day visit
in the framework of Year of Armenia in Russia.
“During my Moscow visit, I plan a meeting with my Russian counterpart
Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of the Russian Security Council Igor
Ivanov. We shall discuss at the meeting questions on implementation
by the sides of earlier agreements, including issues on cooperation
within several regional and international organizations as well as
those pertaining to security and stability in the South Caucasus
region,” Oskanyan noted.
He emphasized that “special attention will be given to consultations
on a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement”. “Questions of energy security
will be discussed both in the bilateral and regional context,” the
minister added. “We shall also examine resumption of the operation
of the Abkhazian section of the Russian-Georgian Railway, which will
help all countries equally to use the transit potential of the region.”
Speaking of European integration, he noted that “our steps in this
direction are similar with the model of cooperation, implemented
by Russia with European institutes: full-fledged membership in the
Council of Europe, mutually advantageous cooperation with the European
Union and North Atlantic structures”.
As the Armenian minister put it, “we shall be able to pursue such a
policy, under which Armenia’s trade with countries of the European
Union will rise against the background of preserving for Russia the
status of our main partner”. According to the minister, Yerevan regards
deeper cooperation with European institutes “also as an important
impetus to continue democratic reforms and changes in Armenia”.