YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)– During their meeting in Washington–the Armenian and Azeri presidents agreed to make similar meetings more frequent–Armenian President Robert Kocharian told reporters upon his arrival in Yerevan. He specified that a decision was taken on developing a special mechanism for arranging such meetings.
At a news conference at the "Zvartnots" airport–Kocharian stated that his participation in the NATO’s 50th anniversary celebrations will not have a negative impact on Armenia-Russian relations.
He stressed that Armenia is not striving to become a NATO member. It is however participating in the "Partnership for Peace" program. Consequently–a refusal to participate in the anniversary ceremonies would mean a boycott on the part of Armenia–for which there were no sound reasons.
The president highly approved of his meeting with Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund–Michael Camdessus. Camdesses gave quite a positive assessment of the reforms in Armenia–taking into account the Russian crisis. The two stressed the importance of economic stabilization in Armenia. Several agreemen’s were made that work to to extend and deepen cooperation. "It means that we have serious grounds for implementing development programs," he said.
The president reported that no Armenian-Turkish negotiations were held in the US and expressed optimism that the relations between the two countries will be improved.
Alluding to the importance of the "Armenia-Diaspora" forum–President Kocharian observed that the Diaspora is greatly enthusiastic and Armenian organizations are willing to participate in the forum. "We must be prudent and make no mistakes," he said.