Wednesday, 16 May 2007
RA Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan received German Ambassador to Armenia Heike Peich.
Pointing out to the recent activation of political dialogue between the two countries as evidenced by reciprocated high-level contacts, the parties expressed themselves for the maintenance and furtherance of this process. The Prime Minister voiced Armenia's interest in the furtherance of the political dialogue with Germany both on the bilateral basis and in the context of developing European and Euro-Atlantic cooperation. In his opinion, in its capacity of EU chair and the largest of EU donor countries, Germany might make a significant contribution to the realization of EU-Armenia Action Plan.
Concerning Armenia's latest parliamentary elections, the Ambassador said that the estimations of different observer missions testified that they had been free and fair which is a serious progress over the previous ones. Madame Heike Peich expressed hope that the comments and recommendations made with regard to the shortcomings still available which were also noticed by the President of Armenia, would be taken into account and eliminated before the next elections. Quoting a German proverb which says that the period following any elections is a pre-election one for the next polls, Madame Heike Peich stressed the need of learning a lesson from past elections. Agreeing with the Ambassador that any elections should be a step forward over the preceding ones, the Prime Minister of Armenia emphasized that the opinion of our people which likewise testified to the progress made against the previous elections was extremely important to us. "Far from being intoxicated with success, we are confident that it will not be too long before the time comes when elections in Armenia will be qualified as fully complying with the international standards," - Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan said.
The Prime Minister expressed his appreciation of the estimations made and valued highly the opinions and comments of all those cooperating countries and international organizations which have to date supported our country to defy the challenges faced.
Answering the Ambassador's question on whether the political force led by the Prime Minister, which enjoyed an absolute majority in the Parliament, would form the Cabinet without other parliamentary factions, the Prime Minister said that the mandate received by the Republican Party allowed it quite perfectly to take the mentioned course, however, the RPA would try to use as much as possible the potentialities of all those forces ready to cooperate by making them participants of the work carried out in the Government and the National Assembly to the best advantage and benefit of our State and people.
The parties expressed satisfaction at the current level of the Armenian-German relationship and stated that active efforts were underway to ensure greater effectiveness in the use of the existing potential of economic cooperation. Ambassador Heike Peich noted that the German side was pleased with the status of all the programs carried out in Armenia with the assistance of the Government of Germany and would continue cooperating with the GoA towards the liberalization and reforming of Armenia's domestic markets inclusive of the mortgage one, as well as in a number of other areas. Madame Peich informed that the agreement on strategic cooperation was nearing finalization and would be ready for signing shortly. She assured that the expiry of Germany's term of EU chairmanship late this July would not prevent her country from developing the cooperation with Armenia both on the bilateral level and within the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy.
