Good afternoon.

I would like to welcome Mr. Philippe Lefort in Yerevan, who was appointed as the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia on August 26: in fact, he has been tasked with two mandates - the mandate of Pierre Morel who was in charge of the crisis in Georgia and partially the mandate of Mr. Peter Semneby.

Philippe Lefort has commenced his mandate since September 1 and after a week he arrived in the region and today he is in Yerevan. I would like to warmly congratulate Mr. Lefort on the occasion of having been assigned this post. He has a great experience and is well informed about the developments in our region, as previously he was the Head of the Continental Europe Department of the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and he was here in that status three months ago.

Today during our meeting we used this opportunity to discuss the relations between Armenia and the EU, which have had good developments in the recent years.

We stressed the importance of the Eastern Partnership summit to be held in Warsaw. We touched upon the negotiations being conducted over the Armenia-Association Agreement. Here, as well as in the preparatory works for the launching of the negotiations over the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, we have achieved good successes. I hope that we will undertake all the necessary steps to launch those negotiations. I think the mandate for the negotiations over visa facilitation will be given before the Warsaw Summit and I am confident that we will reach an agreement in this issue very quickly having the goal.
 
We also touched upon the regional issues, especially the recent developments in the negotiations on the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

I welcomed the EU desire to play a more important role in supporting the negotiating format which exists, meaning the efforts of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. The EU has repeatedly made statements and we share the opinion that the peacefully negotiated settlement of the issue has no alternative. In the Deauville statement, as well as in several statements of EU officials, it was emphasized that the attempts to use or threats of use of force are condemned by the international community.

It is, in brief, what we talked about today but we will continue our negotiations during the working launch, too.

Question: Minister Nalbandian, it is expected to hold the elections of non-permanent members of the UN Security Council and Azerbaijan is in the list of candidates, too. How will you comment it?

Edward Nalbandian: You know that the main goal and task of the UN Security Council is the establishment, maintenance and strengthening of peace. And many have questions how a country that conducts a bellicose policy and a propaganda of war, a country, the leadership of which, is boasting of increasing its military budget 20 time during six years, a country that made the threats of use of force as an important part of its policy and in fact threatens peace, could have a claim on becoming a non-permanent member of the Security Council.

Other questions also arise. For example, while Azerbaijan is negotiating with the European Union over the signing of the Association Agreement, it is campaigning for becoming a non-permanent member of the Security Council against the two countries of the EU – Slovenia and Hungary, claiming that the EU members cannot do better things that Azerbaijan can do.

In this regard, many questions can arise, but it is a question of the responsibility of the member-countries-if they will vote for Azerbaijan, or not. But one thing is clear that it will not add anything to the reputation of the Security Council, I think vice versa.

Thank you.