YEREVAN, OCTOBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. Romania is one of the Eastern European countries to have the most developed relations with Armenia: the two countries have completely formed the legal and contractual base of their relations, to which another five documents were added on October 4. The Armenian President Robert Kocharian stated this during a joint press conference with the Romanian President Tryan Basesku who arrived on a 2-day official visit to Yerevan. According to R. Kocharian, the presidents of the two countries pay special attention to the work of the Armenian-Romanian commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation: the last meeting of the commission was held 6 years ago. "In our opinion, previously this work was not satisfactory enough," R. Kocharian said, adding that the measures proposed by the commission for implementation in late 2006 and early 2007 give a cause for optimism. In his words, the Armenian Development Agency will have the opportunity to present the Armenian economy in Romania and organize meetings of businessmen in Armenia; besides, investment programs of mutual interest will be implemented. It was announced that the sides discussed the opportunity of establishing a direct air link between Yerevan and Bucharest. The Romanian president in his turn underlined the necessity to set up chambers of commerce in both countries with the aim of promoting the trade and economic relations between Armenia and Romania. He expressed a hope that this issue will be discussed at the meeting of the above mentioned commission on October 5. Noting that this visit may accelerate the growth of commodity turnover between the two countries, T. Basesku assured that Romanian companies are ready to use in Armenia their experience of cooperation with Iranian companies, in particular for the establishment of joint ventures. In his words, Romania's joining the European Union on January 1, 2007 and the implementation of Armenia-EU Action PLan within the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy open new opportunities for cooperation between Armenia and Romania. R. Kocharian said that the system linking the Romanian Black Sea ports and those of Georgia has not been worked out yet, and some steps in this direction are envisaged during the Yerevan meeting of the Armenian-Romanian intergovernmental commission. According to him, Armenia will be more interested in this aspect of cooperation after Romania's joining the EU, because Armenian-EU relations will acquire a more institutional character with the implementation of the Armenian-EU Action Plan within the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy. R. Kocharian again stated Armenia's interest in the opportunity to conduct direct trade with European countries through Romanian ports. He said that the sides attach great importance to further development of cooperation in the humanitarian field, which was symbolized by the signing of the 2006-2010 program on cooperation in the spheres of culture, education and science between Armenia and Romania.

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