Edward Nalbandian met with Hillary R. Clinton, the U. S. Secretary of State

The Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian, who is in Munich on a working visit, took part in the 48th Munich Security Conference, held from February 3 to 4. High-level delegations from around 70 countries, heads of states and ministers, as well as representatives of numerous eminent international organizations and institutions attended the Conference.

During the Conference the discussions were held about current events in the world, the impact of world financial crisis on energy security and international security, as well as the non-proliferation and other issues of concern to the international community.

On February 4, a meeting between Edward Nalbandian and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took place in Munich.

The heads of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and the United States expressed satisfaction with the high-level friendly partnership established between the two countries, intensive political dialogue and regular contacts. The sides expressed willingness to continue to undertake efficient steps towards the further strengthening and deepening of mutually beneficial cooperation, as well.

Touching upon the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries to be celebrated this year, Edward Nalbandian said, “This anniversary year may record that the partnership between Armenia and the United States by joint efforts are at the highest level in the history of the Armenian-American relations.”

The agenda of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and the USA included a wide range of issues related to bilateral relations, activities of various international organizations, possibilities of the development and expansion of economic cooperation, positive implementation of the democratic reforms in Armenia and preparatory works of parliamentary elections to be held this year, as well as regional security related issues.

The sides touched upon the preparatory works of the Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Seoul next month and the cooperation being carried out in the frames of the Open Government Partnership initiative.

The sides had a thorough talk on the recent developments in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Edward Nalbandian stressed the importance of the USA’s role, as an OSCE Mink Group Co-chair country and presented his American counterpart the results of the meeting of the Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents held in Sochi on 23 January.

Regarding to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, State Secretary Clinton reaffirmed the USA’s position that the settlement of the issue is possible only through peaceful means. Hillary R. Clinton mentioned that the USA, as an OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair, fully supports the reaching of agreements between the sides and the settlement of the issue.