On March 31, the Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met with Micheline Calmy-Rey, the President of teh Swiss Confederation, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs who is in Yerevan on an official visit by the invitation of the RA President Serzh Sargsyan.

Welcoming the high-ranking guest, Minister Edward Nalbandian mentioned that it is a great honour for him to welcome the President of the Swiss Confederation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with whom, as head of the foreign political agency, in the course of the recent years there have been held more than two dozens of meetings.

“The opening of the Swiss Embassy in Yerevan is registering another important step on the way to development of friendly relations, particularly en route to the progressive development of the recent years. Today, Madam President, this visit is the continuation of Your previous visit, when during the meeting with the Armenian President, alongside with other questions, the necessity of the opening of Swiss diplomatic mission in Armenia was mutually stressed. You were committed to your promise, too, Madam President and that commitment deserves to be recalled today”, noted Edward Nalbandian.

Edward Nalbandian and Micheline Calmy-Rey mutually emphasized that the Armenian-Swiss friendship has a long history and that geographical and historical similarities have always existed between the two countries, and that today the sides can register with satisfaction that high-level relations and close political dialogue have been established between the two countries recently, and the opening of a Swiss Embassy will contribute to the further deepening of two countries’ friendship.

Attaching importance to the effective cooperation between the MFAs of the two countries, the sides agreed to hold regular consultations between the MFAs. They also discussed questions of cooperation in the international organizations.
Regional issues were also discussed during the meeting.

Edward Nalbandian and Micheline Calmy-Rey touched upon the issues and developments in the South Caucasus, particularly the current stage of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, noting that the settlement of the issue is possible only through peaceful means. In this respect Micheline Calmy-Rey underlined that Switzerland is attentively following the situation around the Karabakh conflict. In her words, Switzerland supports the OSCE Minsk Group initiated steps in that direction.

Edward Nalbandian once again expressed gratitude for the mediation efforts initiated by Switzerland in the course of the Armenian-Turkish normalization process.