The meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Russia Edward Nalbandian and Sergey Lavrov

On July 6 commenced the official visit of the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian to Russia by laying a wreath on the Eternal Flame of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and paying tribute to the victims of Great Patriotic War.

Afterwards, a meeting between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian and Sergey Lavrov took place at the House of Receptions of the RF MFA.

Welcoming the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia mentioned that the meetings between the two Ministers of Foreign Affairs are notable for the mutual trust, constructivism and a specific substance characteristic to allied relations.

Expressing gratitude for the invitation to visit Moscow and the warm reception, Edward Nalbandian said: “The regularity of the contacts between the Heads of the two countries is predetermined by the Armenian-Russian allied partnership, which have been held with particular intensity during the last three years. And it stipulates the frequent meetings of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, as well. ”

Edward Nalbandian and Sergey Lavrov discussed the implementation of the agreements reached between the heads of the two countries, and mutually mentioned with satisfaction that those agreements entirely, as well as the relations between the states are having an upward progress and are enriched with a additional substance.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenian and Russia had a thorough talk on a wide range of agenda issues of bilateral relations, touched upon the improvement of legal framework, stressing with satisfaction that over two hundred contracts, agreements and other documents have been signed between the two countries. The interlocutors underlined that the firm legal basis constantly is renewed and expanded. In that context, the works on the preparation of a new contract package that is scheduled for signing on the high-level during the upcoming meetings were discussed.

The bilateral military-political cooperation, coordination of foreign policy and interaction in the international organizations were on the agenda of the talks. The sides mutually expressed satisfaction with the effective cooperation established between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the RA and RF and reached an agreement to elaborate and update the Protocol on the interdepartmental consultations signed around twenty years ago.

The Ministers discussed the planned projects aimed at the further deepening of economic interaction, touched upon the works of the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission in Rostov-on-Don and mentioned with satisfaction that the precrisis level of goods turnover had been already exceeded due to the intensive work conducted last year and the data of the first months of this year inspire optimism.

Highly assessing the results of the first Armenian-Russian interregional forum held in Yerevan in April of this year, Edward Nalbandian and Sergey Lavrov stressed the importance of the deepening and expansion of the decentralized cooperation.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Russia touched upon the issues of the development of the cooperation in humanitarian sphere and reached an agreement on conclusion of the elaboration of a comprehensive agreement in this sphere in the near future.

In the course of the meeting, the Ministers exchanged views on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. In that context, the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed gratitude for the important contribution of the President of the RF to the negotiation and the efforts undertaken by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Sergey Lavrov reaffirmed Russia’s position according to which the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh issue has no alternative.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenian and Russia had a thorough talk on the international and regional issues-the processes and developments in North Africa and the Middle and Near East.

After the meeting, Edward Nalbandian and Sergey Lavrov signed the Protocol on the exchange of the ratifications of the Protocol No. 5 on making changes in the agreement between the RA and RF on the Russian military base on the territory of the RA and exchanged ratifications by which it entered into force.

The meeting of the Ministers was followed by a joint press conference.

In the second half of the day, Edward Nalbandian visited the “Interfax” news agency where he met with the heads of over two dozen leading media outlets and presented to them the priorities of Armenia’s foreign policy.

Minister Nalbandian had a meeting with the representatives of the Armenian community on his agenda, as well. During the meeting, the discussion was about the foreign political issues of the RA and the steps undertaken towards their solution.