Bulgarian Prime Minsiter Sergei Stanishev arrived on November 13 to his official 3-day visit to Yerevan, Armenia, a media statement by the Council of Ministers said.

This is the first Bulgarian Prime Minister visit to Armenia after the restoration of Armenia's independence in 1991.

Stanishev was met by his Armenian colleague Serzh Sargsyan and the two headed for Armenian Council of Ministers building, where a meeting between the two government delegations would take place.

Economic cooperation and intensification of commerce between the two countries would be the main topics for discussion, along with possibilities for the realisation of mutually beneficial projects.

Stanishev would meet Armenian president Robert Kocharyan and chairman of the Armenian National Assembly Tigran Torosyan. He would also meet lecturers and students from the Yerevan State University and would visit the Peyo Yavorov High School. Bulgarian Prime Minister would talk to representatives of the Bulgarian community in Armenia and members of the Armenia-Bulgaria friendship society.

Bulgaria's cooperation with Armenia in the sphere of education and science was one of the most successful as compared to that with other countries from the Southern Caucasus region, the media statement said.

At the end of his visit Stanishev would meet Catholicos Garegin II, head of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church.

Another media statement by the Council of Ministers outlined the main points of the interview Stanishev gave for Armenian News Agency Armenpress prior to his visit to Armenia.

Stanishev said that Armenia could always count on Bulgaria and its institutions to support its ambitions for rapprochement to the EU. He pointed out that from 2007 Armenia was among the priority states towards which Bulgaria would direct money in the frame of official development aid.

Stanishev announced the highlight of his visit would be discussing the measures that could be taken to increase bilateral commerce and economic cooperation. Other perspective spheres of cooperation were tourism, energetics and agriculture.

Bulgaria's Prime Minister announced that Bulgaria was for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict via negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Stanishev's visit to Armenia was part of his Southern Caucasus republics tour. He arrived in Yerevan from Baku and would visit Georgia on November 15-16.