On June 14, Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan who is in Sofia on an official visit, held a tête-à-tête conversation with the Foreign Minister of Bulgaria Teodora Genchovska which was followed by the meeting in an extended format with the participation of the delegations.

Ararat Mirzoyan and Teodora Genchovska commended the current level of Armenian-Bulgarian interstate relations based on centuries-old friendship, expressing readiness to promote the cooperation between the two countries in bilateral and multilateral formats. The importance of official reciprocal high-level visits and regular consultations between the Foreign Ministries of the two countries was emphasized. 

The sides touched upon the prospects of expanding the trade turnover and investments and emphasized the utilization of the existing great potential in these spheres. In this regard, the role of the works of the Armenian-Bulgarian Intergovernmental Commission and the promotion of business to business contacts was underlined.

Both sides stressed the importance of the works carried out towards the establishment of the Persian Gulf-Black Sea International Transport Corridor.

The sides exchanged views on the further development of the Armenia-EU partnership.

The interlocutors touched upon the ties between Armenia and Bulgaria in the spheres of education and culture. In this regard, Minister Mirzoyan expressed gratitude to the Bulgarian authorities for their caring attitude towards the Armenian cultural heritage and for organizing the education of Armenian citizens in Bulgarian universities within the framework of a bilateral intergovernmental program.

The sides discussed a number of issues on regional and international security. Minister Mirzoyan presented to his Bulgarian counterpart the situation around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the position of the Armenian side on the processes aimed at establishing regional peace and stability and the negotiations on the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The mediating role of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship in promoting the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was underlined. In this regard, Ararat Mirzoyan highly valued the position of Bulgaria.

Minister Mirzoyan expressed concern over the continuous anti-Armenian and warmongering rhetoric of the Azerbaijani authorities, and provocative actions against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. He also drew his colleague's attention to the fact that in gross violation of the norms of international humanitarian law, Azerbaijan continues to hold Armenian prisoners of war and civilian hostages.

Special emphasis was given to the prevention of  Azerbaijan’s policy of distortion and destruction of the identity of Armenian monuments that are part of the universal cultural heritage in the territories fallen under Azerbaijani control due to the 44-day war. In this context, Minister Mirzoyan stressed the urgency of a clear and targeted response of the international community, as well as the imperative of the involvement of relevant international organizations in Nagorno-Karabakh, especially the unimpeded implementation of UNESCO fact-finding mission.

Ararat Mirzoyan briefed his counterpart on the recent developments of the Armenia-Turkey normalization process. 

Within the framework of the visit of the Foreign Minister of Armenia, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria the ceremony of signing the 2022-2025 cooperation program in the sphere of culture between the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia and the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria took place. From the Armenian side the program was signed by the Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, and from the Bulgarian side - the Minister of Culture Atanas Atanasov.