By meeting with Victor Emilio Granados Calvo, the President of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, Edward Nalbandian started his visit to San José.

Welcoming the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the President of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica stressed the importance of the visit of Edward Nalbandian, which, according to him, marked a new start in the bilateral relations and would be definitely positive a input in the development of the interaction between the two countries.

Expressing gratitude for the reception, Minister Nalbandian underlined that the main goal of his visit was to establish new contacts with the Latin American countries. In this regard, Edward Nalbandian added that Armenia attaches great importance to the cooperation with Costa Rica in political, economic and cultural spheres and in that context the establishment of relations between the two countries’ parliaments would have a pivotal contribution.

In the course of the talk, the head of the Costa Rica Legislative Assembly said that he would initiate the creation of a parliamentary friendship group with the Armenian National Assembly. In response, Minister Nalbandian mentioned that the Armenian National Assembly has already established active contacts with parliaments of many countries and surely would be interested in establishing inter-parliamentary contacts with the Costa Rica Parliament.

The sides exchanged views on regional and global issues. The Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs presented the President of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, emphasizing that Armenia’s approaches are in line with the international community’s position repeatedly voiced out in the joint statements of the OSCE co-chairing countries’ leaders, but Azerbaijan is continually rejecting those proposals.

“As long as Azerbaijan, attempting to preserve the status-quo, continues to hinder the efforts of the Co-Chairs directed to the settlement of the issue, so again and again decisions, similar to the resolution adopted by the Legislative Council of the Australian New South Wales Parliament recognizing the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh yesterday, will be adopted, which will lead to the international recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh,” underlined Edward Nalbandian.

On the same day Edward Nalbandian met with the President of the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly’s International and Foreign Trade Committee Maria Jeannette Ruiz Delgado.

On October 25 in San José the talks between Edward Nalbandian and Jose Enrique Castillo Barrantes, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica took place. During the meeting the Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Affairs underscored that he highly appreciated the visit of his Armenian counterpart to Costa Rica which gave an opportunity to discuss and disclose new spheres for mutually beneficial cooperation.

"Our countries have many similarities, rich history and cultural heritage, and I am sure that we will use this opportunity to reach an agreement over the development of cooperation. Like Armenia, Costa Rica intends to expand its relations with various countries of the world, so here also our goals coincide," said Minister Barrantes.

"Armenia conducts an active and proactive foreign policy, an important component of which is the acquisition of new partners and increasing the number of friends of Armenia in different parts of the world, as we are convinced that in the 21st century one cannot be guided by stereotypes and be enclosed within one own regional vision, ignoring developments in other parts of the world. In this regard, along with the further deepening of cooperation with our allies and traditional partners, we stress the importance of the development of relations with the Latin American, Asian and African countries and we take efficient steps towards that direction,” said Edward Nalbandian.

During the meeting, the sides exchanged views on the steps to be undertaken towards the intensification of political dialogue, establishment of inter-parliamentary contacts, expansion of economic relations and promotion of cultural exchanges. To that end, an agreement was reached to accredit non-resident ambassadors in both Yerevan and San Jose, to appoint honorary consuls, to expand the legal frameworks, to hold consultations between the MFAs of the two countries, to reproach cooperation in the international organizations, as well as to sign framework agreements in the economic sector, to develop documents on visa regime facilitation and to sign them during the upcoming visit of the Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Affairs to Yerevan.

The Ministers singled out high technologies, education, agriculture, tourism and culture as areas of potential cooperation.

Minister Barrantes presented his Armenian counterpart his country’s role in the American continent, Costa Rica’s engagement in regional integration processes and the efforts undertaken towards the solution of existing problems.

In his part Edward Nalbandian informed about the priorities of Armenia’s foreign policy, the steps undertaken by Armenia and international community to settle Nagorno-Karabakh issue, as well as the activities conducted by the Armenian diplomacy towards the maintenance of security in the region.

Concluding the visit to the Latin America countries, Edward Nalbandian left for Paris, where on October 27 is scheduled the meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan and OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.