The Armenian delegation headed by the Prime Minister of RA Serzh Sargsyan left Washington for Los Angeles to meet with the editorial board of Los Angeles Times. Yesterday Sargsyan met the management of Lincy Foundation.
The Armenian prime minister Serzh Sargsyan met with U.S. secretary of defense Robert Gates at the Pentagon, Vice President of the US Richard Chaney and the Executive Director of Millennium Challenges John Danilovich. Sargsyan was quoted by the government press office as saying that the government of Armenia is pleased with the effective and mutually beneficial military and political cooperation with the USA and thanked the U.S. government for its continued support to reforming the armed forces of Armenia. The government press office said Robert Gates for his part appreciated highly Armenia’s contribution to post-war Iraq reconstruction. They discussed then new directions of Armenia’s participation in the Iraqi reconstruction and then looked into possibilities of Armenia’s participation in the NATO-led peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan. Serzh Sargsyan also emphasized that the U.S. should maintain military aid parity to the South Caucasian nations. At the request of Robert Gates the Armenian prime minister spoke about the Armenian government’s performance with a focus on political and economic reforms designed to drastically improve the living conditions of the population. Sargsyan said the government has enough resolution and will to attain to these objectives. Sargsyan also reaffirmed Armenia’s commitment to seek a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and expressed hope that the talks within the OSCE Minsk Group format will produce positive results.
Later in the day Serzh Sargsyan visited the headquarters of the Millennium Challenges Corporation (MCC) for a meeting with its chief executive officer John Danilovich. Sargsyan assessed highly the U.S. government-funded program that has pledged a hefty $236 million extra U.S. aid to Armenia and spoke about next year’s government budget describing it as ‘ambitious.’ Danilovich pointed out that during its regular meeting in November the corporation’s board will sum up the results of the programs implemented in member-countries. Millennium Challenges is content with the program implementation in Armenia, Danilovich said. Prime Minister Sargsyan stated that Armenia has become an average-income country, which is an impetus to the economic regeneration of the country. According to Danilovich, the corporation focuses on the problems of its member-countries. He attached importance to the second program of Millennium Challenges which is being carried out together with the acting program.
In the afternoon Serzh Sargsyan visited the White House for a meeting with vice-president Dick Cheney and discussed a wide scope of bilateral issues. Serzh Sargsyan was quoted by the government press office as saying that the Armenian government is adamant to build a modern democratic state. Then they discussed Armenia-Turkey relations and developments in the Greater Middle East region. Regarding Turkey Sargsyan reiterated his government’s position that Armenia is ready for unconditional normalization of relationships. In a reference to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Sargsyan said Armenia is for a compromised and peaceful solution to the conflict. Richard Cheney spoke about the American-Armenian community and commended it for its contribution to building friendly American-Armenian relationships. Later that day Sargsyan left for Angeles. Let’s remember that the Armenian delegation left for the US on October 17.
On October 23 the delegation will leave Washington for Paris. In the framework of the official visit Serzh Sargsyan will have meetings with the President of France Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon. Serzh Sargsyan is also expected to make a speech at the dinner in the honor of the RA Prime Minister. The dinner will also feature members of the French Senate and National Assembly and heads of influential French-Armenian organizations. During the stay in Paris RA Prime Minister will give an interview to “Figaro” and “Politik Internacional” periodicals. Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan will also meet with Armenian students in France. The Prime Minister will return to Yerevan on October 27.