On April 3, the Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan held a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy Luigi Di Maio, who is on a working visit in Yerevan.

Highlighting that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Italy, Ararat Mirzoyan and Luigi Di Maio commended the dynamics of the development of dialogue between the two countries based on common values and historical relations.The Ministers expressed their willingness to undertake steps towards promoting and enriching the agenda of sectoral cooperation, including through political consultations between the two Ministries.

The sides exchanged views on cooperation based on mutual interests on multilateral platforms and the development of Armenia-EU partnership.

The interlocutors also touched upon the process of dialogue between Armenia and Turkey.

The prospects of strengthening economic cooperation, especially in the spheres of energy and infrastructure, the perspectives of activating investments, and in that regard expanding the legal field, and increasing the trade turnover were discussed in detail. It was noted that there is a great potential and favorable conditions for the activation of business relations. The deepening of ties in the field of education and culture was also emphasized. The cooperation between the universities of the two countries was underlined.

A number of regional and international security issues were touched upon during the meeting. The Foreign Minister of Armenia briefed on the situation resulting from the invasion of the village of Parukh in Nagorno-Karabakh and the adjacent territories by the Azerbaijani armed forces. Ararat Mirzoyan drew the interlocutor's attention to the manifestations of Azerbaijan's policy aimed at the complete ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, in particular, the actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces of exerting psychological pressure on the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, targeting civilian infrastructure, and threats of use of force.

The need for a full settlement of the humanitarian consequences of the 44-day war, particularly the repatriation of the Armenian prisoners of war and civilian hostages, the solution of humanitarian issues in Nagorno-Karabakh, the protection and preservation of the Armenian cultural heritage in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

The need for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship was stressed. In this context, the Foreign Minister of Armenia presented the position of the Armenian side on starting negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan on a peace agreement. The Foreign Minister of Italy noted that the Italian side supports the establishment of peace and stability in the region.

The bilateral meeting was followed by statement of Ministers for the press.

In the morning of the same day, a delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy Luigi Di Maio visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial to pay tribute to the memory of the victims of the Genocide.