On March 16 took place the meeting of the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian with the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany Guido Westerwelle, who arrived in Yerevan on an official visit.

Welcoming his German counterpart, Edward Nalbandian said, “It is a great pleasure for me to host You in Armenia on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

During those twenty years we succeeded to establish truly friendly relations by launching high-level political dialogue, creating wide legal framework, developing and expanding of trade and economic ties, implementing of development and investment projects, carrying out of inter-parliamentary and decentralized cooperation and intensifying of scientific, educational and cultural ties.”

Expressing gratitude for the warm reception, Guido Westerwelle underlined that in this anniversary year of the establishment of the diplomatic relations, it could be noted that the cooperation between the two countries have been developed and strengthened and today there are all conditions for their further expansion.

Edward Nalbandian and Guido Westerwelle discussed a wide range of issues of the bilateral agenda; in particular they touched upon the implementing of reforms in Armenia and the steps to be undertaken towards the promotion of economic cooperation.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Germany touched upon the Armenia-EU relations, expressing satisfaction with the success achieved in that sphere.

Minister Nalbandian presented the recent developments in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. In this regard, Minister Westerwelle presented Germany’s support to the efforts undertaken by the Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, stressing the necessity of the peaceful settlement of the issue.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Germany had a thorough talk on the developments in the Middle East and exchanged views on the issues related to the reinforcement of security and stability in the South Caucasus.

The agenda of the talks included issues related to the steps undertaken towards the establishment of peace in Afghanistan and Germany’s and Armenia’s contribution to this process.

The German Minister of Foreign Affairs presented the EU position on Iran’s nuclear program. In this regard, Edward Nalbandian stressed that Armenia hopes to reach solutions and agreements over the Iran’s nuclear program through negotiations by the joint efforts of the international community and Iran.

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