Armenian president praises cooperation with EU.

YEREVAN, March 3 (Itar-Tass) - Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
praised the level of cooperation and the political dialogue with the
European Union and stressed the importance of their future development.

On Tuesday, the Armenian leader received Miguel Angel Moratinos,
Foreign Minister of Spain that is currently presiding over the EU.
Sargsyan expressed gratitude for EU financial and consultative
assistance to Armenia.
Moratinos stressed that this visit proved EU strategic vision for
deepening relations with Armenia and confirmed that during its presidency
of the EU Spain was ready to boost relations with the republic in all
areas.
Sargsyan and Moratinos exchanged opinions on all priority issues on
the bilateral agenda, the Armenian president's press service told
Itar-Tass. In particular, they focused on a free trade agreement, easier
visa rules and the beginning of the talks on Armenia's associate
membership of the EU.
They also touched upon the normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations, regional security and peace settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict.
Moratinos expressed confidence that the conflict can be resolved
through exclusively peaceful and diplomatic means.



.RF delegation gets no instruction on new res against Iran - envoy.

UNITED NATIONS, March 3 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's delegation received no
instructions from Moscow to begin work on a new resolution against Iran at
the UN Security Council, Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin told a news
conference at the UN headquarters on Tuesday.
"I just can say that this issue is in the hands of the capital. We
have no instructions that here in New York we have to begin the work on a
new resolution," he said.
Churkin expressed confidence that opportunities for the talks with
Iran are still available.
"The position of Russia is that it is necessary to search for
political and diplomatic solutions and opportunities for the talks with
Iran," he said.
The Russian diplomat expressed the hope that "in relation to concrete
issues : it is still possible to get a positive response from the Iranian
side." "We hope to see such a reaction from Iran that will allow to
continue the six-party talks with Tehran on the whole range of relations,"
he said.
Churkin declined to name any date of possible adoption of a new
resolution against Iran in case of the sextet's failure to build mutual
understanding with Tehran.
The six world powers, including Russia, China, the United States,
Britain, France and Germany, still fail to agree on the need of additional
sanctions against Iran. In particular, China announced that it is not high
time to take any new measures against Tehran, as members of the UN
Security Council have already adopted five resolutions against that
country. Iran is under three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for
refusing to stop its program.
Western countries insist that Iran develops its nuclear program for
military purposes, while Tehran says it is developing its nuclear power
for civilian purposes.



.Finnish diplomat to co-chair Geneva discussion on Caucasus - envoy.

UNITED NATIONS, March 3 (Itar-Tass) - Finnish diplomat Antti Turunen
will fulfil the functions of the co-chair at the Geneva discussions on the
situation in the Caucasus, Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin told Itar-Tass
on Tuesday.
Turunen "has no special status - he is not a special representative of
the UN Secretary General, he is simply a UN representative" at the talks
in Geneva. "There are three co-chairs at the Geneva discussions - the EU,
OSCE and there should be somebody from the United Nations - a person who
summons meetings of this coordinating mechanism on the prevention of
accidents on the Abkhazian-Georgian border," he said.
Earlier, there was the UN Observer Mission in Georgia led by Special
Envoy of the UN Secretary General, Johan Verbeke of Belgium.
"Verbeke had a political mandate, and now for some well-known reasons
there is no UN mission as well as no political mandate. We consider that
the Abkhazian-Georgian conflict has been settled," Churkin said.
Taking into account the fact that the Geneva discussions will
continue, Turunen "will be a UN representative, who will resolve purely
pragmatic tasks of the co-chair at the Geneva consultations and control
the functioning of the mechanism on the prevention of conflicts on the
Abkhazian-Georgian border," the diplomat said.
He noted that the candidacy of Turunen requires no voting of the UN
Security Council members as it was in case with Johan Verbeke and his
predecessors on the post of the Special Representative for Georgia of the
UN Secretary General.

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