On February 16, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian attending the Third Ministerial Conference of the Paris Pact Partners dedicated to the fight against opiates trafficking from Afghanistan. The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and the high-ranking delegations of around five dozen countries attended the conference and delivered speeches.

Edward Nalbandian addressed a speech during the meeting chaired by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs Russia, France and Austria Sergey Lavrov, Alain Juppé and Michael Spindelegger.

In his speech the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs presented Armenia’s contribution to the fight of the international community against illicit drug trade and reaffirmed Armenia’s commitment to continue actively supporting to the international efforts aimed at reduction and eradication of illicit drug production, trade and trafficking.

In Vienna Edward Nalbandian’s agenda was full of bilateral meetings.
Foreign Minister Nalbandian had a meeting with Lamberto Zannier, the OSCE Secretary General.

In the course of the meeting the interlocutors had a thorough talk on the recent developments in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. In this context, the OSCE Secretary General expressed concern over the maintenance of tension on the line of contact and stressed the importance to create mechanism for the investigation of incidents.

The Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs and OSCE Secretary General touched upon the preparatory works for the upcoming parliamentary elections to be held in Armenia, as well.

In Vienna Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, as well.

During the meeting of the Ministers, the bilateral agenda issues, and international and regional developments were touched upon.

Edward Nalbandian and Sergey Lavrov discussed the issues related to the improvement of the legal framework existing between the two countries. The Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs reiterated the invitation presented to his Russian counterpart to visit Yerevan.

The meeting with Ambassador Eoin O'Leary, the Chairman of the OSCE Permanent Council took place in Vienna, as well.

Minister Nalbandian presented Armenia’s support to the implementation of the Irish Chairmanship’s priorities in the OSCE.

Edward Nalbandian and Ambassador Eoin O'Leary touched upon the scheduled visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ireland and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Eamon Gilmore to Armenia.

The settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue was on the agenda of the meeting, as well. In this regard, Ambassador Eoin O'Leary reaffirmed the support of the Irish Chairmanship of the OSCE to the efforts being undertaken by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

Edward Nalbandian met with Michael Spindelegger, the Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Austria discussed the preparatory works of the visit of the Austrian President to Armenia scheduled this year.

Ministers Nalbandian and Spindelegger had a thorough talk on the ways to expand bilateral cooperation in various spheres, deepening of the interaction in the frames of international organizations. The sides exchanged views on international agenda and regional issues.

The next meeting of the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs was with Milan Rochen, Montenegro's Minister of Foreign Affairs and EU integration.

The agenda of the meeting included the issues related to the expansion of a legal framework existing between the two countries, the development of an economic interaction, and decentralized cooperation, as well as upcoming visit of Montenegro's Minister of Foreign Affairs and EU integration to Yerevan.

In Vienna Edward Nalbandian gave an extensive interview to the leading Austrian newspaper «Der Standard».

On the same day, concluding his visit, Edward Nalbandian returned back to Yerevan.