On June 9, the Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received Philippe Lefort, the Head of the Continental Europe Department of the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs who arrived in Armenia to take part in the consultations being conducted between the MFAs of the two countries.

Welcoming the guest, the Armenian Foreign Minister expressed satisfaction with the high-level and intensive contacts that exist in the Armenian-French relations, and stressed that it creates a favourable framework for the further strengthening and expansion of multiple cooperation between the two countries.

In the course of the meeting, the sides touched upon the issues related to the development of bilateral relations, as well as the regional and international issues of mutual interest.

The sides mutually stressed the importance of further strengthening of the cooperation in the economic and cultural fields, as well as inter-parliamentary and decentralized formats.

Edward Nalbandian and Philippe Lefort discussed the relations between Armenia and the EU, particularly a number of issues related to the current stage of the negotiations being conducted between Armenia and the EU over the Association Agreement.

In the course of the discussions over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, Minister Nalbandian stressed the positive involvement of France in the negotiations as the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair.