Wednesday, 6 April 2005
Today RA Prime Minister A. Margaryan has received a Lithuanian delegation headed by Mr. Gediminas Kirkilas, Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Lithuania.
In stating the recent progress in the relationship between Armenia and Lietuva as for the revival of the traditional ties and the strengthening of political and economic contacts, the Prime Minister noted that the existing trends could be upheld by reciprocated high-level visits and extensive discussions of a broad range of issues. He pointed out to the need in activating the cooperation in defense-related matters, in particular, and added that the present visit of the Lithuanian Minister was supposed to be beneficial in this respect. Mr. Gediminas Kirkilas, for his part, expressed his country's willingness to further the cooperation with Armenia. By mentioning that Armenia had been chosen as the first call-point on the map of his first official visit to the region in the capacity of Defense Minister, he prioritized the collaboration in the matters of defense and in other fields of mutual interest as, according to him, Armenia was a country with long history and singular cultural traditions. Especially as Armenia had made a remarkable progress in economic reforms and in its adherence to the European values over the past few years.
Both sides have indicated that, notwithstanding the great distance separating their countries, as well as the on-going blockade of Armenia and the transportation bottlenecks resulting in a low trade turnover, the promotion of economic and commercial exchanges was realistic and would be in the best interest of the two sides. According to the Prime Minister, there was a clear need in making a better use of the existing potentialities. Considering that Lithuania acceded to the membership of the European Union in 2004, and Armenia had managed to be included in the European Neighborhood Policy owing to its good policy record, Mr. A. Margaryan expressed the hope that in this way additional possibilities would be created for taking the cooperation with the European States to a higher level of relationship and for re-building the Armenian-Lithuanian political, economic and military cooperation along the European lines. Mr. A. Margaryan and Mr. Gediminas Kirkilas placed a special focus on the reforms in the military sphere and the cooperation in the framework NATO's Partnership for Peace program.
Coming down to the regional agenda, the parties emphasized the need in activating the processes conducive to cooperation in South Caucasus, as well as ensuring security, stability and peace throughout the region. Prime Minister A. Margaryan stressed the need for Lithuania and the other Baltic States to pursue well-balanced policies with regard to their South Caucasian counterparts. A reference was made of the Armenian-Turkish relationship as seen in the context of Turkey's latest demarches for EU-accession.
