Dear colleague,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am glad to welcome my Lithuanian counterpart, Minister Linas Linkevičius in Yerevan.

I must state with satisfaction that the ties between Armenia and Lithuania experience a dynamic development. We have established embassies in both of our capitals. The number of mutual visits on different levels has considerably increased. And we are interested in keeping the upwards dynamics of the consistent development of the Armenian-Lithuanian relations. All this gives us an opportunity to state with confidence that the ties between Armenia and Lithuania will continue deepening and expanding.

We should state with gratitude that Lithuania belongs to the number of states which have officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. In this context I must state that the recognition of the Genocide by the Lithuanian Seimas once more demonstrated the commitment of the Lithuanian people to the undisputable universal human values and justice.

Today we discussed a wide range of issues of mutual interest which include bilateral political dialogue, economic cooperation, educational and cultural ties, enhancement of legal framework.

During the meeting we made a decision to activate by joint efforts economic ties through organizing round tables, business forums, respective exhibitions.

In this respect formation of the Armenian-Lithuanian intergovernmental commission has a great importance. I hope that the steps towards the creation of the commission will be summarized soon and we will launch drafting the agenda of the first session. We already made an arrangement to that end.

In the context of bilateral relations inter-parliamentary cooperation has a special place. We encourage active contacts between the parliamentarians and holding of periodical consultations on questions of mutual interest. We hope that the agreements signed in the areas of culture, education and science would have their contribution to the development of relations between our countries in those important spheres.

We discussed also Armenia-EU relations with Minister Linkevičius and the establishing of a new legal framework for them.

We discussed a number of pressing issues of the regional and international agenda. We touched upon the Ukrainian crisis, the ongoing distressing developments in the Middle East.

Of course the agenda of the negotiations also included the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement. I presented the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs towards the exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

Now I have the pleasure to give the floor to my Lithuanian counterpart.

Question (Armenpress Agency) My question is directed to both Ministers. The activities of the radical group of the so called “Islamic state” continue to keep the whole Middle East in extremely tense situation. They also impose a direct threat to the Armenians living there, as well as to other ethnic and religious minorities. What consequences can that have?

Answer: Terrorism is a threat to everyone. It is obvious that those who directly or indirectly support terrorists or try to use them for certain purposes, can themselves become a target for those terrorists.

It is well known that during the Karabakh war Azerbaijan used mercenaries from Afghanistan and other places closely linked to radical Islamist organizations.The same Azerbaijan declares today that it fights against extremists inside the country. I would not like to comment on the degree of efficiency and sincereness of those efforts, but it is well known that currently as well there are many terrorists amongst the “Islamic state” originating just from Azerbaijan. According to the international, including Azerbaijani media yesterday’s reports, the renowned terrorist Khaled Azeri was killed as a result of the air strikes of the international coalition in Kobani, who, by the way, had previously created the notorious so-called “Karabakh partisans” armed group.

The sponsors of those should realize that terrorism can have an effect of uncontrollable boomerang.

The activities of the extremists demonstrate the urgency of consolidating the efforts of the civilized world and their determination in the fight against terrorism.

Question (Armenia TV) A rapporteur of the PACE has been appointed on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue with whom our delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly, it seems, is not going to cooperate. What is the approach of the MFA on this issue?

Answer: You know that we are principally against shifting of the discussions on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue outside of the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group as it is the only format which has an international mandate and credentials.

The continuous efforts of Azerbaijan to transfer the negotiation process into other formats witness Baku’s consistent intention and efforts to undermine the negotiations.

The preparation of self-serving and distorted reports cannot have any benefit on the negotiation process and peaceful settlement. On the contrary, it can escalate the tensions and spoil the atmosphere, something the Azerbaijani side is interested in for the sake of disorienting the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process . This is our approach.