ARMENIA SEEKS TO WORK HARD TOWARDS RAPPROCHEMENT WITH EU
ITAR-TASS, Russia
Oct 3 2006
YEREVAN, October 2 (Itar-Tass) – Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
emphasized on Monday his country’s bid to work hard towards
rapprochement with the European Union.
At talks with the foreign minister of Finland, the country, which
currently holds the chairmanship of the EU, the president stressed
that Armenia "considers a plan of actions on the rapprochement with
the EU as a new possibility to carry out task-oriented and coordinated
reforms".
Focusing on the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
Kocharyan said he believed such conflicts could be solved only through
negotiations, tete-a-tete discussions and never through a voting
and passing of resolutions. He referred to an offer by GUAM states
(Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) to introduce into the agenda
of a U.N. General Assembly session an issue of "frozen" conflicts.
The European Union puts much emphasis on progress and democratic
development in the Caucasian region, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki
Tuomioja said, for his part. He particularly emphasized the importance
of holding free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections
in Armenia.