Good day, dear journalists,

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, based on the foreign policy guidelines and assignments outlined by the RA President, in 2012 continued its activities aimed at the strengthening of the country's external security component, maintenance of external favorable conditions for the country’s development; reinforcement of our reputation and positions on the international stage; increasing of the number of Armenia’s friends in various continents, deepening of the engagement in the international organizations and processes; protection of interests of the Republic and its citizens in abroad; further strengthening of cooperation with friendly and partner countries; preservation of the Armenian cultural heritage abroad, and facilitation of the implementation of the initiatives which are in line with our interests and undertaken towards the creation of positive agenda in the international relations.

Azerbaijan's regular ceasefire violations and provocations along the line of contact with Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia’s border seriously harmed not only the peace process, but also seriously threatened the regional security and stability. Baku's destructive activities got an appropriate negative reaction of the international community as it was on Safarov’s deal, which was unequivocally condemned by the entire world.

Pursuing the implementation of the President’s assignments on the organization of events ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Genocide, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its diplomatic missions have consistently worked towards that direction.

Armenia continued to strengthen and develop its strategic allied relations with Russia. The year was active from the point of meetings between the two countries' leadership, and inter-parliamentary ties, military, economic, cultural-educational and decentralized interaction.

Armenia’s friendly partnership with the United States has considerably developed in 2012 which was reaffirmed during the high-level reciprocal visits.

President Serzh Sargsyan's official visit to France was an important landmark for the continuous strengthening of the Armenian-French friendly relations.

The political dialogue, economic cooperation and cultural ties with the European countries had an important development.

During the last year considerable progress was achieved in the relations between Armenia and the European Union. The year was marked by high-level reciprocal visits; the negotiations over the Association Agreement and the creation of a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area are conducted successfully. An agreement on visa facilitation between Armenia and the EU was signed.

Consistent steps were taken towards the strengthening of friendly relations with Armenia’s neighboring countries Georgia and Iran.

During the year the international community, on various occasions, reaffirmed its support to Armenia’s position to normalize relations with Turkey without any preconditions.

Armenia continued to be actively involved in the interaction within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS); steps were undertaken towards the development of the relations with CIS member-states.

Special attention was paid to the relations with China, India and Japan.

The geography of diplomatic ties has considerably expanded; especially the activities were intensified in the Asian, Latin American and African directions.

The developments in the Arab world were under our close attention; our efforts have been directed at the solution of security emerging concerns of the Syrian Armenians. Steps were taken towards the development of traditionally friendly relations with Arab countries.

In 2012 Armenia celebrated the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and a number of countries, numerous events were organized.

The year of 2012 was also marked by the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s membership to the UN. On that occasion a number of anniversary ceremonies took place both in Armenia and abroad. Armenia continued its dynamic participation in the activities of the UN structures.

The strategic interaction in the frames of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which is an important component of Armenia’s security, has gotten a new impetus.

Armenia presented certain initiatives for the further strengthening of the Organization.

The partnership with NATO consistently developed.

Armenia continued to be engaged in the activities of the OSCE, Council of Europe and a number of international and regional organizations.

In 2012 Armenia became a full member of the International Organization of the Francophonie.

The economic component had an important role in the foreign policy agenda. Efforts were continued with our partner countries towards the development of economic relations in the frames of both bilateral and international institutions, including financial organizations. By the coordination of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dozens of inter-governmental commissions’ meetings and business forums were held.

Special attention was paid to the development of parliamentarian relations and the expansion of decentralized cooperation.

The international cooperation continued in cultural, scientific and educational spheres. The Armenian diplomatic representatives exerted efforts to present Armenian culture abroad. Events dedicated to the 500th Anniversary of Armenian Printing were organized.

The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to support the activities of the Ministry of Diaspora, the strengthening of Armenia-Diaspora links.

The MFA coordinated the foreign relations of the Armenian governmental agencies.

In 2012 the President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan paid 17 foreign visits; Armenia hosted heads of 3 states, as well as the Presidents of the European Council and European Commission. The President of the Armenian National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan paid 5 visits and 3 heads of other countries’ parliaments visited Yerevan. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan paid 5 visits and Yerevan hosted 2 prime ministers. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Edward Nalbandian paid 44 foreign visits, and Armenia hosted 27 foreign ministers and heads of international organizations.

The reciprocal visits were effective in terms of the reached agreements. 105 international agreements were signed.

In 2012 the Republic of Armenia established diplomatic relations with 4 states.
Armenia has continued to stay as a trustful and predictable partner for the world. There were numerous positive publications about Armenia in eminent international media outlets. The President and Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia had around six dozen speeches, interviews and press conferences in world-known think tanks and leading media outlets.

Thank you!

Question, News.am: My question is about the Stepanakert airport. A few days ago a decision was made in Azerbaijan which seemingly addressed the air defense system of the country, but in reality this is an attempt to legalize the Azerbaijani threats. How would you comment it?

Edward Nalbandian։ Azerbaijan is screaming, making a noise, and is trying to politicize the issue of the Stepanakert airport opening. The Co-Chairs have repeatedly urged to refrain from politicizing the issue. Neither Nagorno-Karabakh or Armenia have taken, nor will take any step towards the politicization of the operation of the airport.

During the meetings with the Co-Chairs, the Azerbaijani side gave assurances and committed itself to reject any threat or use of force against civil aircrafts. Despite that, Azerbaijan at the highest level of its leadership grossly violating those commitments is threatening to use force against the civil planes. The Co-Chairs had repeatedly called upon the sides to refrain from it. And it was clear to whom those calls were addressed - Azerbaijan.

It is also clear that the opening of the Stepanakert airport is not an attempt to link it to any aspect of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. The Co-Chairs have stated that it should not be used to predetermine the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Neither Nagorno-Karabakh, nor Armenia is making such a linkage.

Everybody knows that the opening of the airport in Stepanakert has exclusively civil and humanitarian purpose.

Azerbaijan is quite openly saying that it has a goal to isolate Nagorno-Karabakh and to force its people to leave Artsakh. So far Azerbaijan has not succeeded in it and will not succeed.

Question, H2: Minister Nalbandian which are the priorities of Armenia’s foreign policy for 2013. Thank you.

Edward Nalbandian։ Looking at our Annual Report for 2012, you can see that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would continue its works in the same directions in 2013, as well. I would like to note about Armenia’s presidency in the Council of Europe in 2013, which is a very honorable mission, but also a great responsibility. We are working on the priorities to be presented under our presidency, the drafting of an appropriate wide-ranging program is underway. It should be presented in April and then we will assume the presidency in May. In April Yerevan will host the Secretary General of the Council of European and together with him we are going to present our program.

We should also take into consideration the fact that Armenia is going to assume the presidency in the Organization of Black Sea Economic Co-operation (BSEC).

A meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Eastern Partnership member-states and EU high-ranking officials in Armenia is scheduled as well. During the year numerous reciprocal visits are scheduled to hold, as well as Armenia is going to participate in various international forums.

All this would be accordingly in due time.

Question, Mediamax: Minister Nalbandian, are any meetings between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan or between the Presidents of the two countries expected, and in general, currently what's going on in the negotiation process?

Edward Nalbandian։ Yes, on January 28 in Paris, a meeting is scheduled with the Co-Chairs, and if there is the necessity, a meeting will be held between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well. As of now no meeting at the presidential level is scheduled.

What’s going on in the negotiation process? You know, that Kazan meeting did not prove to be a breakthrough, as the Azerbaijani side in fact refused, proposing new amendments to include in the almost agreed text. The same had repeated in previous meetings. Everyone expected that Kazan summit would be a breakthrough, but it did not happen. Azerbaijan did everything not to make progress possible in this process.

It is necessary to note that in 2012, as I have said in my introductory address, important statements were made. What was the January statement of Sochi about, under which the President of Azerbaijan agreed to put his name, too? It was about the acceleration of the process of agreement on the Basic Principles. A couple of days later, if not the next day, Azerbaijan chanted its old songs that the negotiations over the Basic Principles were meaningless and there was a need of drafting a final peace agreement.

How is it possible to draft a final agreement without reaching an agreement on the Basic Principles? And that was why in the statement made at the level of the Presidents of the Co-Chair countries in Los Cabos, the sides expressed support to the implementation of the provisions of the Sochi statement and called upon to accelerate reaching an agreement on the Basic Principle. Azerbaijan rejected it throughout the year.

The Dublin statement of December referred to the statements of Sochi and Los Cabos. So far Azerbaijan has been trying to do everything to fail those negotiations based on the proposals, which were presented by the Co-Chairs.

In addition, there are several other issues that are discussed during the meetings. You know that there were proposals in March 2011, again in a Sochi meeting statement, which was reaffirmed in the statement made in January of 2012.

The statement, as I mentioned, was made by the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia and was about the creation of a special mechanism for the investigation of incidents. Despite there is the name of the Azerbaijani President under that statement, Baku did everything to fail any discussion, any negotiation over the creation of that mechanism.

In fact opposing the creation of that mechanism, Azerbaijan takes full responsibility for all the incidents along the line of contact and on the border, including the responsibility for all human casualties caused by those incidents.

Let me remind that recently, in December in Dublin the Co-Chairs once more urged the sides to take every step to respect the ceasefire of 1994. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, being against the inclusion of some provisions in that statement, prevented the statement to be five-sided, i. e. the Co-Chairs plus Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan came out against such principled issues, such as the well-known three principles repeatedly proposed by the Co-Chairs, which were also presented in the Los Cabos statement of the Presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair, particularly the non-use or threat of force, equal rights and self-determination of peoples and territorial integrity. Azerbaijan acted even out against that, and the statement was trilateral, only by the Co-Chairs. Armenia can put its signature under that statement.

It is clear that there is no alternative to the negotiations, and the negotiations should be continued. Azerbaijan was trying to use every opportunity as a pretext to impede the progress of the negotiations. In reality, the negotiations are not making progress because of Azerbaijan’s destructive position. Together with the Co-Chairs, Armenia will continue its efforts towards the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue exclusively through peaceful means.

Question, Public Radio: Minister Nalbandian, you use every opportunity to note that Armenia’s position over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is very much in line with the mediators’ position. The Azerbaijani leadership is claiming the same, as well. Should we consider it as usual or we should ask for your opinion?

Edward Nalbandian։ I have never heard Azerbaijan saying that its position is in line with the mediators’ position. They are saying that as if the international community supports Azerbaijan’s approaches on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

In Baku the public opinion has so long been misled, that the misleaders themselves are beginning to believe in their lies. What are they referring to?

They are saying, pointing out that the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and Non-Aligned Movement have adopted statements. Neither the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, nor Non-Aligned Movement deals with the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. The negotiations over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue are conducted in the frames of the OSCE, by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ mediation. And when we are saying that our positions are in line with the international community’s approach, we mean all the statements on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue made in the frames of the OSCE. If we accept all statements issued in Helsinki, Athens, Almaty, Astana, Vilnius, including Dublin, as well as four statements made by the heads of the Co-Chair countries in L’Aquila, Muskoka, Deauville and Los Cabos, then, indeed, our approaches are in line with those statements.

Azerbaijan is selectively taking one clause from the statements and is claiming that it agrees with that. And it does the same during negotiations - we agree on this point of the Co-Chairs’ proposals, let’s formulate that agreement and leave the rest for the future. It is obvious to which provisions give their agreement, and this is not something new. The only provision they emphasize is the return of territories: they are saying that they would be ready to discuss other issues after the return of territories.

That is why in Astana the US State Secretary Hillary Clinton on behalf of the Co-Chair countries stated that all those elements and principles, which were drafted and presented by the Co-Chairs to all sides are an integrated whole and it is impossible to separate one from another, or to give a priority to one principle or element. This is the common position of the international community and we totally agree with that approach.

Question, Aravot Daily: Minister Nalbandian, the Georgian Prime Minister arrived in Armenia on an official visit last week in the frames of which he stated about the possibility to resume the works of Abkhazian railway, if the sides express their commitment. This statement received a tough response by the Georgian President Saakashvili who connected that opportunity to Russia’s interests. I would like to know if Yerevan officially raised the issue of railways during the negotiations with the Georgian Prime Minister. And secondly, does official Yerevan know about any reactions by the Russian authorities on that issue?

Edward Nalbandian: Before answering your question, I would like to make an additional remark regarding the previous question on the Azerbaijanis’ reference to the statement of the Non-Aligned Movement, which did not touch upon the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in detail, where instead of the thee principles, only two were mentioned. It did not mention the principle of self-determination of peoples.

This is surprising because one of the fundamental principles of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Bandung principles, is the right to self-determination of peoples. And since they are a member of that organization, and Armenia is not, they can make insert small paragraph in the statement.

After the Armenian Foreign Minister’s statement, some countries expressed bewilderment how such a thing had been inserted into statement.

Moreover, numerous countries of the International Organization of the Francophonie are members of the Non-Aligned Movement, and the International Organization of the Francophonie issued a statement, which supported the efforts of the OSCE Co-Chairs and the three principles proposed by them. The same can be said about the organization of Islamic countries which present various positions on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in different formats and organizations. It means that the Azerbaijanis are cheating themselves.

Regarding the opening of the railway, you know, during Ivanishvili's visit appropriate statements were made, comments were done. It is true that Armenia is very interested in the opening of the railway and stresses the importance of it; and within the limits of our capacities we will do everything possible to have that issue resolved positively and quickly.

Thank you.

Question, A1 plus: Mr. Nalbandian, two short questions. First, do you agree with the assessments of the Ambassador of the UK concerning the upcoming elections? Second, what did Azerbaijan lose, in your opinion, after the release of Safarov?

Edward Nalbandian: The Ambassador of UK herself has provided comments to the reactions voiced in the press and our public opinion. I think many reactions were quite appropriate.

I do not think that making some assessments and prognoses on the level of the ambassador before the elections is quite correct. If the ambassador decides to state such things, then she needs to think of the possible public reactions and the possible attitudes concerning that statement.

Concerning the Safarov affair, it is hard to imagine that the leadership of Azerbaijan was that much unable to estimate the reactions and consequences that deal would lead to. The whole world unequivocally criticized it and expressed its disapproval. That became a shame for Azerbaijan.

Perhaps Baku was following another goal, maybe they were trying to fail the negotiation process. That was unacceptable, that was shameful, that violated the principles and values of the civilized world. But there is no alternative to the negotiations, and Armenia declared that it will continue the negotiations.
Maybe Azerbaijanis were seeking other goals out of any logic. Maybe they have a peculiar logic, very different from the logic of the rest of the world. We will see.

Thank you!