President Drnovšek received President of Armenia Kocharian
Ljubljana, 11/23/2005 | press release, statement
The President of the Republic, Dr Janez Drnovšek, today received the President of the Republic of Armenia, Robert Kocharian, who is on his first official visit to Slovenia. The statesmen focused their discussion on relations between Slovenia and Armenia and conveyed the interest of both countries in strengthening political and economic cooperation. During their meeting, they also devoted attention to European integration processes, relations with Turkey, the situation in Karabakh and Western Balkans. Armenian President Kocharian also expressed his expectations that Slovenia would help Armenia in its reforms and in establishing links with Euro-Atlantic organisations. At the end of their discussion, both presidents voiced a hope that the visit would contribute to enhanced cooperation between the countries.
At the press conference after the talks, President Drnovšek gave the following statement (unedited version):
"We have just finished the first part of the talks during the visit of Armenia's President to Slovenia. It is the first visit of this kind, or the first bilateral meeting at the highest level. Both countries are relatively young and they established their independence relatively recently. There are quite a few similarities between them in terms of their history and historical development. Neither Slovenia nor Armenia had it easy in individual historical periods. We have therefore ascertained that regardless of geographical distance and less developed relations at this moment, we still have quite some similarities. Both nations are, if I may say so, hard working, and they both rely on people. Neither country has abundant natural resources but this enhances our understanding of each other and facilitates our mutual assistance in specific situations. We also discussed the possibility of concluding as soon as possible some fundamental bilateral agreements so that economic cooperation could become most intense. Furthermore, we touched upon our cooperation in Armenia's endeavours to forge closer ties with European institutions and organisations. I also gladly accepted the invitation to visit Armenia next year and, hopefully, we might already be able to implement on that occasion some proposals that were tabled today. Thank you."
Toast by the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Janez Drnovšek, at an Official Dinner in Honour of President of Armenia Robert Kocharian (in Russian Language)
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