On December 5 in Valletta on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan had a meeting with the Foreign Ministers and representatives of the Nordic-Baltic (NB8) countries.

The meeting in this format was held for the first time under the current chairmanship of Sweden. The meeting was attended by the Foreign Minister of Sweden Maria Stenergard, Foreign Minister of Finland Elina Valtonen, Foreign Minister of Latvia Baiba Braže, Foreign Minister of Norway Espen Barth Eide and representatives of other countries engaged in the format.*

In his welcoming remarks Minister Mirzoyan noted: “I attach particular importance to cooperation with the Nordic-Baltic States. This has very firm reasons. The first reason is that I believe that Nordic-Baltic States are the ones who stand firmly on the values of democracy and in a stance of protection of democracy worldwide. And being a democracy, an inexperienced one, but still a democracy, also understanding the concerns, understanding the threats, we attach particular attention to the cooperation in this format.

Of course, I very much hope that this cooperation and this format will give us, Armenia, an opportunity to learn how to promote and continue the democratic reforms that we have already launched, and I could say that we have some tangible success and results. But also we very much hope that you can help us in the process of EU integration and bringing Armenia closer to the European Union because we are a democracy, as I said.

I have the opportunity to discuss these issues with almost all of you as I have been visiting your countries, and I will be delighted to receive all of you, be it on bilateral visits or in this format, in my country, in Armenia. I want to constitute that we are on the same page, we share the same values, so I am also happy to see that there is an understanding of this situation and there is an understanding of the threats and also there is readiness to support us and we highly appreciate that.”

A joint press release was issued following the meeting, which is presented below.

The Nordic-Baltic countries reaffirmed mutual interest to strengthen relations and expressed strong support for Armenia’s ambition to deepen ties with the EU and its European partners.

Armenia shares the democratic values and respect for human rights that underpin the Nordic-Baltic and European communities. The Nordic Baltic countries commend Armenia’s commitment to democratic reforms and will continue to support Armenia’s reform efforts.

The Nordic Baltic countries in the EU look forward to the adoption of a new and ambitious Partnership Agenda between Armenia and the EU in line with the European Council’s conclusions from October 2023 on strengthening Armenia-EU relations in all dimensions. The Nordic-Baltic countries recognise the OSCE’s commitment to continued engagement with Armenia in all three dimensions of security.

The Nordic-Baltic countries support efforts to reach a sustainable peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan based on mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and in accordance with the 1991 Almaty Declaration and welcome initiatives, including the “Crossroads of Peace” project, to increase connectivity and economic cooperation in the region.

*The Nordic-Baltic (NB8) format includes Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Denmark and Norway.