YEREVAN. - Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan on Friday visited the US Embassy in Armenia on the occasion of the Independence Day.

Karapetyan congratulated Ambassador Richard Mills, the embassy staff and friendly US people on the 241st anniversary of the US independence.

In his congratulatory speech the Prime Minster said the following:

''Dear Mr Mills, ladies and gentlemen,

On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Armenia and me, I congratulate you, Mr Ambassador, the embassy staff and friendly people of the United States on the Independence Day. This is a very important holiday for any nation.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our states, this being a good opportunity for looking backward at the path jointly covered by us. It is a good opportunity to once again express gratitude to the United States Government and people for the diverse support, which was and has been provided since the independence of Armenia.

We greatly appreciate our strong friendship and close cooperation with the US and are happy that through joint efforts it is continuous and tends to develop. The United States is our important trade and economic partner. We successfully cooperate in the sphere of energy, informational technologies, agriculture, etc. We have good platforms for the advancement of cooperation—the Armenian-American Intergovernmental Commission and the Council on Trade and Investment— which can be more effective.

We are hopeful that using these platforms we can contribute to the process of attracting American investments to Armenia. Armenia highly appreciates the role, which the United Stats plays in the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict as an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair.

Taking advantage of the event, I wish to congratulate our US-based compatriots and US citizens, who greatly contribute to the strengthening of friendship between two of our peoples and have great input in this.

Summing up my speech, I wish to thank for the invitation, warm reception and this atmosphere. With the permission of Mr Ambassador I would like to speak about our partnership relations. In reality, we have very good working, partnership, just and frank relations. I am very happy for this and am ready to continue this. We speak very openly and frankly on all the questions of concern to us.

I once again congratulate you and wish you good mood.''