ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
May 3, 2004 Monday
Samara to host Russian-Armenian conference in mid-May
By Lyudmila Yermakova
A conference on inter-regional Russian-Armenian cooperation will be
held in Samara in the middle of May.
The head of the Federation Council Committee on the CIS, Vadim
Gustov, told Itar-Tass on Monday that the meeting had been initiated
by the upper house of the Russian parliament and the National
Assembly of Armenia.
“In conditions when the Caucasus remains a problem territory, it is
necessary to use the regional factor in order to forge relations,” he
said.
Armenian regions have signed 15 agreements with Russian regions, and
these ties need to be strengthened, the senator said.
Samara was chosen as the venue of the conference as one of the
Russian regions that cooperate with Armenia most actively.
Six Armenian governors, representatives of Russian regions, members
of the Federation Council, officials from the government and the
Foreign Ministry will arrive in Samara.
The conference will be moderated by Federation Council chairman
Sergei Mironov and Armenian National Assembly Chairman Artur
Bagdasaryan.
The Armenian delegation will visit an Armenian church and meet with
members of the local Armenian community.
A meeting of regional leaders and the co-chairmen of the
Russian-Armenian inter-governmental cooperation commission will also
be held.