Minister Oskanian participated in the Bled Strategic Forum, held in Bled Slovenia, at the invitation of Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel.

The Forum, held on August 26 and 27, featured speakers and panelists from the European Union structures, as well as government officials from Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Minister Oskanian addressed a Round Table Discussion entitled "Economic and Political Trends in the South Caucasus and Central Asia: the Role of the EU and the OSCE."  He spoke about the generally positive economic trends and the importance of continuing efforts to ensure that political trends, too, continue to be positive. He stressed the need for focusing on deep and lasting economic development. Minister Oskanian called on the international community to see the region beyond its capacity to produce oil and gas, and instead to view human capital as the major resource to utilize and enhance.

He stressed that the engagement of European structures has done a great deal to support the democratization processes in the newly independent countries, and that continuing engagement by these structures can serve to build the institutions necessary to facilitate egalitarian and diversified economic growth.

Armenian Foreign Minister had also a bilateral meeting with his Slovenian counterpart Dimitrij Rupel. Slovenia is going to take up the rotating 6-month Presidency of the European Union in January, 2008. The two discussed, relations between Armenia and Slovenia, cooperation between Armenia and the EU during Slovenian presidency and the recent developments in Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.