LETTER FROM SECRETARY CLINTON TO PRESIDENT

UNCLAS STATE 039535

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPDC PREL AM
SUBJECT: LETTER FROM SECRETARY CLINTON TO PRESIDENT
SARGSIAN


1. Please deliver the following message from Secretary
Clinton to Armenian President Serzh Sargsian. No signed
original will follow.


2. Begin text:

Dear Mr. President:

I wish to express my satisfaction with the recent
signing of the Joint Action Plan between the United
States and Armenia on preventing transfers of concern of
conventional arms and dual-use items. This is a
positive first step, and we welcome it. The United
States is committed to assisting the Government of
Armenia in its efforts to strengthen its export control
laws and their implementation, to ensure that there will
never be another serious export control-related issue.

The United States appreciates your government's
commitment to ensuring that such transfers do not recur.
It is my hope that we will make meaningful progress on
implementing our Joint Action Plan over the next six
months.

The historic and courageous steps you have taken to
normalize relations with Turkey are truly commendable.
As President Obama stated in his recent speech before
the Turkish Parliament, "The United States strongly
supports the full normalization of relations between
Turkey and Armenia."

I appreciate Armenia's willingness to make tangible
progress toward a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement in the
short term and fully support our efforts in the OSCE
Minsk Group to achieve a breakthrough in the coming
months on the four main unresolved points within the
Basic Principles. I am watching this issue closely and
intend to be personally engaged in supporting the
process, as we seek a just and lasting settlement that
incorporates the Helsinki Final Act's principles of
self-determination, territorial integrity, and non-use
of force.

Sincerely yours,

Hillary Rodham Clinton

END TEXT.
CLINTON