YALTA (Armenpress)–Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian met in private with Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko Tuesday as he wrapped up a trip to the Ukrainian province of the Crimea where he and Catholicos Karekin II attend the 650th anniversary of the peninsula’s medieval Armenian monastery.
The meeting covered a wide scope of issues regarding Armenian-Ukrainian relations and took place in a "warm atmosphere," the Ukrainian president’s press office said.
The private talks concluded with an agreement by both presidents to meet in Ukraine for official talks before the end of the year.
Both leaders also underscored the need for conducting a session of the Armenian-Ukrainian inter-governmental commission before Sarkisian’s next visit to Ukraine. They also agreed to sign a number of documen’s to promote further cooperation between the two countries.
The expansion of economic ties between the two former soviet states was also highlighted during the meeting, with both presidents agreeing that an Armenian-Ukrainian business conference would be a good first step in that regard.
Yushchenko also spoke about the special contribution made by the Ukrainian-Armenian community in the development of Armenian-Ukrainian relations and expressed his readiness to discuss with Sarkisian the issues of the Ukrainian Armenian community. The Armenian president also thanked Yushchenko for the state sponsored reconstruction of medieval Holy Cross monastic complex.
The two presidents also discussed a number of regional and international issues.