Yerevan welcomes results of Armenian-Turkish top-level talks in Bursa.

YEREVAN, October 17 (Itar-Tass) -- Yerevan welcomed the results of the
talks between Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Turkish President
Abdullah Gul in Bursa on Wednesday.
The talks between the delegations were followed by a one-to-one
meeting between the two presidents, an Armenian Foreign Ministry official
told Itar-Tass.
The Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers, Edvard Nalbandyan and
Ahmet Davutoglu, held a separate meeting.
Armenia and Turkey "could not have reached what was reached over the
past year had it not been for the Armenian president's invitation to this
Turkish colleague to visit Yerevan a year ago", the diplomat said.
Of late, Armenia and Turkey have passed yet another stage in the
normalisation of bilateral relations as they signed protocols in Zurich on
the establishment of diplomatic relations and the development of bilateral
relations.
At the same time, "each new stage in the normalisation proves harder
than the previous one", the official added.
The diplomat stressed the important role played in the normalisation
of Armenian-Turkish relations by the United States, Switzerland, Russia,
France and other countries.
"Russia is a strategic ally of Armenia and its support in this process
was very valuable," he said.
Commenting on a possible timeframe for the ratification of the
protocols, the diplomat said Armenia "is ready to comply with the
agreements reached at the talks with Turkey".
Ratification cannot be synchronised in the two countries because their
ratification procedures differ, the official explained.
On October 10, the Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers signed the
protocols on the normalisation of relations between the two states.
The documents were signed at Zurich University in the presence of
mediator Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Ray, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, EU High
Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) Javier
Solana and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
Under the protocol on the development of bilateral relations, the
sides agreed to open the common border within two months after the
document comes into effect, hold consultations between the ministries of
foreign affairs, use the existing infrastructure, develop legal
cooperation, establish cooperation in the consular field, as well as to
maintain economic interaction and tourism. The protocol will come into
effect after it is ratified by the parliaments of both countries.
Under the second protocol on the establishment of diplomatic relations
between Armenia and Turkey, the parties agreed to establish diplomatic
ties when the protocol came into effect.
Armenia and Turkey have the 330-km-long border. But they have no
diplomatic relations: they were interrupted in 1993 after the conflict in
Nagorno-Karabakh.

.Moldova to begin talks on agt on associated relationship with EU.

CHISINAU, October 17 (Itar-Tass) -- Moldova will begin talks shortly
on an agreement that will pave the way to an associated relationship with
the European Union, Prime Minister Vlad Filat said.
Filat and Swedish Foreign Minister Karl Bildt, the current Chairman of
the EU Committee of Ministers, agreed on Friday that the EU Commiossion
and the Moldovan parliament will set up working groups early next week to
pursue this matter.
The agreement with the EU will include a number of political and
economic aspects, as well as liberalisation of visa requirements for
Moldovan citizens.
At the same time, Filat admitted that work on the agreement "is only
beginning, the process of negotiations is quite complex and it is
premature to say when the document can be signed".
Bildt said the EU understood the complexity of the economic situation
in Moldova and would support the country on its way to European
integration and democratic reforms.

.G8, G20 summits to be held in Canada June 25-27, 2010 - FM.

MOSCOW, October 17 (Itar-Tass) --The next G8 and G20 summits will be
held in Canada on June 25-27, 2010, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
said.
The G20 will be the main centre of concerted approaches to resolving
financial and economic problems and reforming the international currency
and financial system, Lavrov said in an interview with the Golos Rossii
(Voice of Russia) radio on Friday.
"Decisions made by the G20 should be confirmed in a more universal
format, and in this respect the United Nations is such universal forum due
to its unique legitimacy,' he said.
"It is no incidental that the U.N. held a conference on the financial
and economic crisis in July 2008 that took into account the decisions
adopted by that time by the G20," the minister said.
"As for the G8, it won't disappear. The date of the next summit has
already been determined - June 25-27, 2010 in Canada," he said.
"A G20 summit will be held in parallel. The G8 will do its own
business because its agenda is much broader than that of the G20," Lavrov
said.
-0-zak/