The mutual commitment to deepen the Armenian-Swiss friendship was reaffirmed

On March 13 Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian arrived in Switzerland on a working visit.

On the same day, the ceremony of awarding the former President of the Swiss Confederation Micheline Calmy-Rey with a Medal of Honor of the Republic of Armenia took place in Geneva. Swiss statesmen and politicians, the Mayor of Geneva and representatives of the Armenian community attended ceremony.

Handing over a Medal of Honor to the former President of Switzerland, Minister Nalbandian said, “The relations between Armenia and Switzerland have recently reached their peak in the 20 years of history of the diplomatic relations which found their reflection in the first official reciprocal visits of the Heads of the two countries and the establishment of the Swiss Embassy to Armenia. The dynamics of the relations is distinguished not only with the regularity of high-ranking contacts and the intensity of political dialogue, but also with their quality and depth. Our mutual efforts aimed at the strengthening of the relations gave their results in more deepening of the friendship between the two peoples. It is a great honor for me, Madam President, to present You the Medal of Honor by the order of the President of the Republic of Armenia for Your remarkable contribution to the development of the relations between our two countries.”

On March 14 the talks between the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian and Federal Councilor Didier Burkhalter, the head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) took place in Bern.

The agenda of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two countries included a number of issues related to the bilateral cooperation in various spheres, as well as regional and international issues.

The sides mutually expressed satisfaction with the recently unprecedented development of the relations. According to Edward Nalbandian, today there is a profound trust and mutual understanding between the two countries, which is characteristic to friendly states.

Stressing the importance of established effective cooperation between the MFAs of the two countries, the Ministers agreed on further intensification of holding regular consultations between their headed Ministries and cooperation in the frames of international organizations.

In this context, the head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs presented its country’s support to the full membership of Armenia to the International Organization of Francophone.

In the context of the Swiss chairmanship-in-office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2014, the Ministers exchanged views on agenda issues of the Organization.

During the talks, the sides had a thorough talk on the steps being undertaken towards the promotion of trade and economic cooperation. In this regard, the Ministers stressed the importance of providing support to the business circles on a state level. The Swiss side reaffirmed the follow-up of projects started by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) which are aimed at the development of Armenia.

The Ministers exchanged views on the ways of the development of decentralized cooperation. Edward Nalbandian and Didier Burkhalter touched upon regional issues and developments in the South Caucasus. Edward Nalbandian presented his Swiss counterpart the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. In this regard, Minister Burkhalter pointed out that his country follows with great interest the mediation efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group and finds that the issue should only be resolved by peaceful means.

The Foreign Ministers discussed the relations between Armenia and the European Union and a number of other regional and international issues.

On the same day, Edward Nalbandian was hosted at the Parliament of the Swiss Confederation where he had a meeting with the members of the Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group Armenia-Switzerland.

In the course of the meeting thorough talks were held on the further deepening of the cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries.

The members of the Friendship Group presented the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs their activities aimed at the strengthening of bilateral ties and informed about their intention to visit Armenia after the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia.

Minister Nalbandian presented the Swiss MPs the main directions of Armenia’s foreign policy and the steps undertaking towards the solution of regional issues.
Touching upon Switzerland’s mediation in the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations, Edward Nalbandian highly assessed the undertaken efforts. According to the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the absence of the continuation of reached results obviously was not due to the lack of mediatory efforts or Armenia’s neglecting to respect the reached agreements; it was due to Turkey’s failure to fulfill its obligations.

On the same day, the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs left for Yerevan.