CURRENT LEVEL OF DIALOGUE BETWEEN ARMENIA AND ITALY ABSOLUTELY SATISFACTORY, ITALIAN AMBASSADOR SAYS
Armenpress
Aug 15 2007
YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, ARMENPRESS: In an interview to Armenpress
Italian ambassador to Yerevan, Massimo Lavezzo, said his government
is cooperating with the government in Yerevan for organization of
Armenia’s Cultural Days in Italy in 2007 autumn.
He said following an Armenian request, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of Italy has decided to reserve for this event an important part of
the budget foreseen in 2007 for the implementation of the bilateral
cultural agreement.
He said according to the information available to the embassy, the
program of the Cultural Days will include several very interesting
concerts and exhibitions.
He also said Italy strongly supports the action of the Armenian
Government, and especially of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aimed
at eradicating poverty in the rural areas of the country. For this
reason, the Italian MFA decided to provide 500,000 euros, through UNDP,
for the implementation of the first stage of the rural development
program, which will take place in a "cluster" of 5 villages in the
Tavush Region. The ambassador said Italy will be the first foreign
country to sponsor the program.
Speaking about Armenian-Italian relationships the ambassador said from
the Italian point of view, the current level of the political dialogue
between the two countries is absolutely satisfactory. "Armenia and
Italy share a comprehensive program of cooperation, both bilaterally
and through the European Union, which aims at supporting the continuing
efforts of Yerevan towards a complete democracy, protection of human
rights, information pluralism and integration into the European
structures," he said.
According to Massimo Lavezzo, the positive outcome of the recent
parliamentary elections is, from this point of view, a very encouraging
milestone. Also a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
is a very important goal for Italy, in the framework of the action
of OSCE and the Minsk Group.
On the other hand, the bilateral economic relations are increasing,
but they are not completely satisfactory yet. The annual trade turnover
increased from 29 (in 1999) to 116 (in 2006) million US dollars, but
there is still much to do as regards, for instance, Italian investments
in Armenia (something more than half million US dollars last year).
"During 2007, some missions of Italian entrepreneurs have been received
in Yerevan, and we are looking forward to implementing in the next
months the bilateral Memorandum on Small and Medium Enterprises,
signed in 2005. Also the afore mentioned entrepreneurial meetings
will be very useful to strengthen the economic cooperation between
the two countries," he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
