On October 28, Edward Nalbandian, the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was in Berlin on a working visit, met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Guido Westerwelle.

Welcoming Edward Nalbandian, the German Minister of Foreign Affairs congratulated him on the occasion of 20th anniversary of Armenia’s independence, mentioning the Armenian-German relations have been highly developed.

Expressing gratitude for the invitation to visit Germany and the warm reception, Minister Nalbandian said: “Armenia greatly stresses the importance of further deepening and strengthening of the cooperation with Germany, and the proof of it are the numerous projects and the bilateral interaction in various spheres being implemented jointly.”

In the course of the meeting, held in a constructive and warm atmosphere characteristic to the Armenian-German relations, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two countries touched upon the implementation of the agreements reached between the President of the Republic of Armenia and the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Edward Nalbandian and Guido Westerwelle discussed a wide range of issues of bilateral agenda- organization of high-level visits, the expansion of legal framework for the promotion of economic collaboration, the cooperation between Armenia and the European Union, and international and regional issues.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs touched upon the efforts undertaken by the EU towards the overcoming of the financial crisis, the events being held in the Middle East. The sides also exchanged views on the issues related to the reinforcement of peace and security in our region.

The Ministers touched upon the relations between Armenia and the EU, and issues related to the negotiations over the Association Agreement, visa facilitation regime and the creation of Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Zone.

Talking about the democratic reforms being implemented in Armenia, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany mentioned that progress achieved in that sphere is visible.

In the context of the discussions over the expansion of trade relations, Minister Nalbandian noted that there are around eight dozen companies with German capital functioning in Armenia and expressed hope that through joint efforts the number of those companies could be doubled in the next few years.

Minister Nalbandian informed about the recent developments in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. In this regard, Minister Westerwelle expressed Germany’s support to the negotiation process within the OSCE Minsk Group mediation, stressing the absence of an alternative to the peaceful settlement of the issue.

The German Minister of Foreign Affairs presented the EU’s position on the nuclear program of Iran, regarding to which Edward Nalbandian underlined that Armenia hopes that the solutions and agreements over the Iranian nuclear program would be found through the negotiations, by the joint efforts of Iran and the international community.

During the discussions regarding to the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations, Minister Westerwelle noted that Germany is supporting the effort undertaken towards the establishment of normal relations between Armenia and Turkey.

Guido Westerwelle accepted the invitation of Edward Nalabndian to visit Yerevan and an agreement was reached to have that visit in the first half of the following year.

In the second half of the day, Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with Christoph Heusgen, the Chief Advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well. The interlocutors had a thorough talk on the ways for the further strengthening of the Armenian-German friendly relations, as well as a wide range of international and regional issues.

On the same day, the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs left for Paris, where his speech at the 36th session of UNESCO General Conference is scheduled on 29th of October.