On July 28, Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan had a meeting with the President of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly , Foreign Minister of Maldives Abdulla Shahid, who is in Armenia on a working visit.

Congratulating his colleague on the successful presidency in the UNGA, Minister Mirzoyan highly appreciated the contribution of Abdulla Shahid aimed at encountering the current global challenges and consolidating the efforts of the international community for this purpose, in the core of which is the idea of result-oriented multilateralism.

The cooperation between the United Nations and Armenia was emphasized in the context of achieving the sustainable development goals.

Ararat Mirzoyan noted that Armenia, being a member of the UN Human Rights Council, is committed to promoting the global agenda for the protection of human rights. Abdulla Shahid, in his turn, highly appreciated the effective work of Armenia in the Council.

Minister Mirzoyan emphasized that one of the priorities of the cooperation of Armenia with the United Nations is the promotion of the genocide prevention agenda, which also includes the protection of the memory and dignity of the victims of genocide. It was added that Armenia attaches particular importance to the strengthening of the UN's early warning capacities and the improvement of relevant mechanisms for the prevention of crimes.

During the meeting, the sides also highlighted the importance of ensuring the involvement of women in the decision-making process and commended the initiative of the Maldives to recognize June 24 as day of female diplomats (Armenia is a co-author of the resolution).

Issues of regional stability and peace were also touched upon.

Foreign Minister of Armenia emphasized the need to solve the humanitarian issues consequencing from the war unleashed by Azerbaijan, in particular, the repatriation of Armenian POWs and other detained persons, as well as the need to preserve the Armenian historical-cultural heritage of Artsakh in the territories fallen under the control of Azerbaijan, emphasizing the imperative of the unhindered involvement of relevant UN institutions on the ground.

Minister Mirzoyan reaffirmed Armenia's commitment to achieving a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, emphasizing that it is the only format with an international mandate, within the framework of which issues of security and protection of all rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh should be addressed.

The meeting was followed by the graduation ceremony of the graduates of the Diplomatic School of Armenia, where Foreign Minister of Armenia and the UNGA President delivered a speech.

Within the framework of the visit, Abdulla Shahid also had a meeting with the female diplomats of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia, during which the importance of ensuring the equality of women and men and the implementation of steps towards the economic empowerment of women was emphasized.