WE HAVE BUILT FOUNDATIONS OF DEMOCRACY, FM SAYS
ArmenPress
June 18 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 18, ARMENPRESS: Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian
said today the main task set by Armenia is to build a democratic,
economically prospering state, living in peace. Speaking at he first
meeting of the Armenian Assembly of Parliamentary Friendship, uniting
Armenians, elected to various countries’ legislative bodies, Oskanian
said Armenia has progressed in all these directions since restoring
its independence, reaching a point requiring additional efforts to
continue and consolidate the progress.
Oskanian said despite weighty achievements on the road of building
a truly democratic state, Armenia is still half-way from this
destination, having passed only the easiest part of it.
According to the minister, the two-digit economic growth rates of
the recent years is not yet sufficient to have a positive impact on
the lives of all segments of the population. “This means we have to
exercise greater efforts year after year to be able to maintain the
onward trend,” he said.
In a reference to Karabagh problem Oskanian said negotiations go on
to reach a final peace deal with Azerbaijan. “Armenia has entered in
a stage that it needs every kind of assistance. We have built the
foundations on which we have to construct our home of democracy,
economic development and peace,” he said.