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ARMENIA RUSHING TOWARD WEST
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/comments27775.html
Published: 11:46:59 - 19/10/2012
On October 18 Armenia did two major steps proving its final decision
to move toward the West.
Armenia and the U.S. signed a memorandum on energy cooperation which
may be considered the milestone of the relations of both countries.
The U.S. assumed the task to ensure the security of the Armenian
Nuclear Power Plant for the next 10 years, besides, it is not ruled
out that the U.S. will provide the necessary money for the construction
of the new nuclear reactor.
Besides, it was also stated that both countries are going to increase
the scales of trade and investments. Investments, as we know, have
the feature of changing the political situation.
The second important event is the initialization of agreement between
Armenia and the EU on the simplification of the visa regime. Russia has
been trying for a couple of years to simplify the visa regime with the
EU. On these days, the minister of foreign affairs of Russia Sergey
Lavrov said that Russia met all the EU demands and the refusal of
the European Union of simplify the visa regime is a political position.
Apparently, this position changed in relation to Armenia.
The Armenian people with its history, culture and modern aspirations
are an inseparable part of the European civilization, said Serzh
Sargsyan at the meeting of the European People's Party.
At the same time he underlined that a program of complex reforms is
being worked out in Armenia for the realization of which financial
support is necessary "this is why the donor conference with the
European Commission for Armenia is planned". The conference will,
most likely, be held after the presidential elections in February;
nevertheless, millions in the form of grants are already flowing to
Armenia through European channels.
It is noteworthy that the Deputy State Secretary Assistant Erik Rubin
stated in Yerevan that they are not against Armenia's cooperation
with Russia, but, to the contrary, they would like competition and
development of multilateral relations. Earlier, in his interview
to Lragir.am, the U.S. ambassador John Heffern had also said that
they are not against Armenia's cooperation with Russia and that
"the country can't have only one partner".
This means that the U.S. is not only trying to "drag" Armenia out
of the Russian zone of influence but also to create a platform in
Armenia for equal cooperation with Russia. We just need to wait to
see whether Russia will accept such proposal.
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/comments27775.html
Published: 11:46:59 - 19/10/2012
On October 18 Armenia did two major steps proving its final decision
to move toward the West.
Armenia and the U.S. signed a memorandum on energy cooperation which
may be considered the milestone of the relations of both countries.
The U.S. assumed the task to ensure the security of the Armenian
Nuclear Power Plant for the next 10 years, besides, it is not ruled
out that the U.S. will provide the necessary money for the construction
of the new nuclear reactor.
Besides, it was also stated that both countries are going to increase
the scales of trade and investments. Investments, as we know, have
the feature of changing the political situation.
The second important event is the initialization of agreement between
Armenia and the EU on the simplification of the visa regime. Russia has
been trying for a couple of years to simplify the visa regime with the
EU. On these days, the minister of foreign affairs of Russia Sergey
Lavrov said that Russia met all the EU demands and the refusal of
the European Union of simplify the visa regime is a political position.
Apparently, this position changed in relation to Armenia.
The Armenian people with its history, culture and modern aspirations
are an inseparable part of the European civilization, said Serzh
Sargsyan at the meeting of the European People's Party.
At the same time he underlined that a program of complex reforms is
being worked out in Armenia for the realization of which financial
support is necessary "this is why the donor conference with the
European Commission for Armenia is planned". The conference will,
most likely, be held after the presidential elections in February;
nevertheless, millions in the form of grants are already flowing to
Armenia through European channels.
It is noteworthy that the Deputy State Secretary Assistant Erik Rubin
stated in Yerevan that they are not against Armenia's cooperation
with Russia, but, to the contrary, they would like competition and
development of multilateral relations. Earlier, in his interview
to Lragir.am, the U.S. ambassador John Heffern had also said that
they are not against Armenia's cooperation with Russia and that
"the country can't have only one partner".
This means that the U.S. is not only trying to "drag" Armenia out
of the Russian zone of influence but also to create a platform in
Armenia for equal cooperation with Russia. We just need to wait to
see whether Russia will accept such proposal.