Armenia is not blockaded, Fried assures

[Torgomian Varazdat]

PanARMENIAN.Net Armenian News
April 13, 2007

Armenia is not blockaded, Fried assures

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "We want to see an improvement in the Armenian
parliamentary elections. That is important. We don't expect perfection. We
don't expect to go from deeply flawed to perfect, but we do expect to see
substantial forward progress, said Daniel Fried, Assistant Secretary for the
Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at a daily press briefing posted at
www.state.gov.

"That is important. Armenia, given the strength of the Armenian Diaspora and
given Armenia's links to the West, frankly, you ought to be way ahead of
Georgia. Armenia should be doing better. It should be a leader. It should be
a prospering country. It has all the ingredients. And lack of oil and gas is
not necessarily a curse," he said.

When commenting on closing borders, Assistant Secretary Fried said, "Yes,
but a lot of countries - Armenia is not blockaded. It has access through
Georgia. It's not as if it has no access to the outside world. We hope that
more is done."