Question: Mr. Minister, how would you assess, summarize today’s meetings?

Answer: We are grateful to the President of the French Republic, Mr. Francois Hollande for organizing a Summit meeting in Paris on Nagorno-Karabakh.

This is already the third meeting of the Presidents during the last three months on the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. It shows that the Co-Chair countries are determined to continue their joint active efforts towards the settlement of the issue.

We highly appreciate the initiatives of the Co-Chairs for organizing meetings, particularly meetings on the highest level which give an opportunity to the sides to better get to know each other’s approaches and attempt to bring closer their positions.

I would describe today’s meeting as useful, sincere and constructive.

Many questions concerning the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue were discussed. During the regional visit of the President Francois Hollande in May there was a proposal to discuss the implementation of confidence building measures during the Paris meeting. The Co-Chairs welcomed that proposal. Our approaches are in line with the approaches of the Co-Chairs that the implementation of those measures can create favourable conditions for progress in the negotiation process. Azerbaijan has a different approach. They approach this question from another angle, thinking that if there is a progress in the negotiations, it can create conditions for the implementation of confidence building measures. This is a well-known Azerbaijani approach which also existed in the past.

The discussions were quite interesting. During the meeting of the Presidents there was an opportunity to touch upon a number of regional and international issues which showed that the approaches of Armenia and Azerbaijan on some issues can be close to each other.

Besides the discussions on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, the first part of the meeting of our President with Francois Hollande this morning was dedicated to the Armenian-French bilateral relations.

We have privileged relations with France, the highest level of political dialogue, effective cooperation in the frameworks of the international organizations - the UN, European institutions, Organization of Francophonie and other international formats. Trade and economic relations are developing, the volume of French investments by 2013 already exceeded one billion dollars. The inter-parliamentary relations are developing, the decentralized partnership is expanding, the ties in educational and cultural areas are enhancing and strengthening.

The agenda of the bilateral relations is quite rich and we always have many topics to discuss. Every meeting of the Presidents is a good opportunity to discuss these topics. The President of France has paid a state visit to Armenia, and there were two other opportunities of meetings between the Presidents during this year in international formats. In the first half of the next year we expect the visit of Francois Hollande to Armenia.

Question: Mr. Minister, can we state that there was a certain move in the result of this meeting, or not? Does Azerbaijan continue to stick to its position?

Answer: You may have noticed that there was some positive sign in my comment. It is not accidental. When I say that the negotiations were constructive, sincere and useful, it means something.

I think that today we made a small step to bring the positions of the sides a little bit closer. Of course it is a complicated process. It is difficult to expect a breakthrough progress with one or a few meetings. You know that since 2008 there have been 17 meetings on the level of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. I would say that those meetings give an opportunity to the Presidents of the two countries to better get to know the approaches of each other and to clarify the framework of the possibilities to move towards the settlement of the issue. With this regard I think the meeting was positive.

Question: Mr. Minister, has a preliminary arrangement been made concerning the time and venue of the next meeting? Is it going to be in New York during the UN General Assembly session?

Answer: There is no arrangement on the time and venue of the next meeting. There is an agreement to continue the contacts. If there was only one meeting between the Presidents in 2012 and one in 2013, three meetings have already taken place in 2014. The contacts have become active. I think that the active contacts on the levels of the Presidents, Foreign Ministers will continue in the future. There is still one year left until the UN General Assembly Session and if the two Presidents are in New York, it is possible that the Co-Chairs would try to organize such a meeting.

Question: Mr. Minister, has the question of withdrawing the snipers been discussed?

Answer: I mentioned that President Hollande proposed to implement several confidence building measures. It included also creating an investigation mechanism of incidents on the line of contact and on the border, withdrawal of snipers, consolidation of ceasefire, etc.

The Co-Chairs also welcome all these proposals. As you know both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have always positively reacted to the implementation of such measures. But, as I said, the Azerbaijani side approaches it from a different angle. I would say, they are not quite ready for this. I repeat, they think that when there is progress in the negotiations then it will be possible to discuss confidence building measures. If there is progress, if we achieve certain solutions, I think, there would not be a need for the confidence building measures to this extent. It is obvious that without mutual confidence no solution is possible. Rather the confidence building measures should create favourable conditions for achieving progress.

Question: It seems that Hollande has called upon the sides to start drafting the comprehensive peace agreement. Has such a question been discussed during today’s negotiations?

Answer: Such calls were always present. We should consider them in the context that when we reach an agreement on the basic principles of the settlement, it will give an opportunity, it will become a basis for drafting the main agreement. As there is no final agreement on the basic principles yet, such a question cannot be discussed and such a question has not been discussed during today’s meeting in Paris.

Question: Mr. Minister, was there any reference to the August accidents?

Answer: You should take into account that this meeting is a continuation of the Sochi meeting which took place on the initiative and with the participation of the President of Russia which considerably reduced the tensions on the ground -on the border and on the line of contact. It is also a continuation of the Newport meeting initiated by the US State Secretary. The sequence of these meetings shows that the format of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, despite some difficulties existing in the international arena, continues to remain quite a effective format. The Co-Chairs continue their joint efforts, an evidence of which is the fact that the Co-Chairs were invited to participate in today’s meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as the trilateral meeting of the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and France.

Question: Is there any difference of moods from Sochi to Paris?

Answer: I think the moods were more positive. The Presidents reaffirmed that the existing format of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs with the participation of three Permanent Member countries of the UN Security Council, is an active and effective format.

It is important that there was a reaffirmation on the level of the Presidents that there is no alternative to the negotiation process and we should move towards a peaceful settlement, to establish peace in our region so that our peoples could benefit from that peace.