Kocharian calls for closer cooperation with Nagorno-Karabakh

01.11.2004 07:51:00 GMT

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenian President Robert Kocharian has spoken
in favor of intensifying cooperation between his country’s leadership
and the authorities of the self-proclaimed republic of
Nagorno-Karabakh, the presidential press service told Interfax.

“Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are in the same economic
area. Therefore, it is necessary to coordinate reforms that are
underway, or otherwise the two economies might experience a lack of
harmony,” Kocharian said at a meeting attended by the Armenian and
Nagorno-Karabakh leaderships in Yerevan on Friday.

Kocharian said his numerous meetings with Nagorno-Karabakh leader
Arkady Gukasian have driven him to the conclusion that “relations
between the Armenian and Nagorno-Karabakh executive authorities need
to be more orderly now.”

“There is a need for certain decisions, so that bilateral relations be
determined not only by meetings and contacts between the presidents
and prime ministers but also by meetings between the ministries and
other agencies” of the two countries.

Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s
following a bloody conflict with Armenia.