YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian on Saturday and Sunday was an official visit to Egypt–where he held meetings with Chairman of the National Council of Egypt Fathi Surur–Minister of Foreign Affairs Amr Musa and Secretary General of the League of Arab Countries Ismat Abdel Magidi.
The importance of the recent meeting between the presidents of Armenia and Egypt in Davos–Switzerland–as well as active ties between the parliamen’s of the two countries were highlighted during the meetings.
Relations between Armenia and Arab countries became a separate subject of discussion. It was stressed that mutually advantageous cooperation had been established in different spheres–in particular–with Syria–Egypt and Lebanon.
The leaders concluded that there were enough legislative issues for larger-scale cooperation between the two nations to be reinforced by new agreemen’s. The meetings also discussed the Middle East peace process and the Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution.
Following the official meetings–Oskanian and his delegation visited the St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church in Cairo and the Armenian Diocese headquarters. At the Armenian Embassy–Oskanian met with representatives of the local Armenian community.
Qatar’s Emir–Sheik Hamad bin Khalif al-Tani met with an Armenian delegation led by Foreign Minister Oskanian Monday morning.
The sides discussed prospects for developing cooperation between the two countries. The Armenian minister presented the current state of the Karabakh peace process and Armenia’s efforts to resolve the conflict.
Later that day–Oskanian met with his counterpart Ahmed Abdullah al-Mahmud to discuss possible trends of developing bilateral relations.
Oskanian also attended the funeral of Jordan’s King Hussein–representing Armenia.