ArmInfo. Edward Nalbandian summed up the results of 10 years of being on the post of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia.
In his "last" address to the Armenian society, Nalbandian assured that over the past years a number of important achievements were recorded and expressed confidence that in the future it will be possible to realize what has not yet been realized. He also assured that over the years of independence it was possible to form a viable structure that honorably fulfills the tasks set for it. "One of the most important priorities of Armenia's foreign policy - in the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement over the past 10 years - has been to achieve conceptual changes, our positions have been significantly strengthened." The realization of the people's right to self-determination is one of the cornerstones of our position, the main recipe for resolving the issue is clearly enshrined in 5 statements at the level of the Heads of State of the OSCE Minsk Group member countries: This is the position promoted by the general public.If over the years, Azerbaijan has argued that the settlement of the conflict should be based on the principle of territorial integrity, today we have come to the point that the international community emphasizes that the conflict must be resolved on the basis of three known principles in a complex, and attempts to prefer one principle to another will lead to the failure of negotiations, "he said, and in this context, added that Armenia repeatedly stressed that without the participation of Artsakh it is impossible to achieve a comprehensive and long-term settlement of the conflict.
According to Nalbandian, today the co-chairs share this position and this is fixed in the working documents of the negotiation process, moreover, the Minsk mediators have recently begun to address the statements addressed to Azerbaijan. At the same time, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia is convinced that Azerbaijan's large-scale military aggression against Artsakh in April 2016 was due to Baku's failure in the negotiation process, which thus tried to impose its approaches to the settlement of problems. "Baku lost again, as evidenced by the results of the summits in Vienna, St. Petersburg and Geneva, as well as the statement of the co-chairing countries." Today we can definitely state that the international community and Armenia speak practically the same language, namely, that alternatives to a peaceful settlement of the conflict based on the realization of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination, as well as international recognition and guarantees of security, Armenia, as a negotiating party, has repeatedly stressed that, together with the mediators, The processes that have taken place substantiate our tactics, as well as the correctness and justification of the steps, the achievements achieved are the result of many years of consistent work, the preservation and strengthening of which requires serious efforts, "Nalbandian said.
At the same time he stressed that another important priority of Armenia's foreign policy was international recognition and condemnation of the genocide, and over the past 10 years the number of countries that recognized the Armenian Genocide increased by almost one dozen, and administrative units of different countries and international organizations - by several dozen. He recalled Armenia's efforts to prevent further crimes against humanity, as well as various initiatives taken at the UN level.
According to Nalbandian, in recent years the attention of the foreign policy department has also been aimed at protecting the rights and solving the problems of our compatriots abroad. As a vivid example, he cited the assistance provided to the Syrian Armenians.
"The Armenian-Russian allied relations have deepened and widened over the past ten years and are at a peak, political dialogue, economic cooperation, military-technical, decentralized, scientific, educational and humanitarian cooperation gained new impetus." In 2010, Armenia and Russia signed the 5th annex to the agreement on the deployment of Russian troops in 1995, according to which Russia is the guarantor of Armenia's security, and also provides the Armenian side with modern weapons Thanks to joint efforts, a partnership with the United States was raised to a qualitatively new level, interaction was expanded in various fields, a framework agreement on trade and investment was signed, the visa regime was simplified, the United States implemented the largest investment in recent years with our immediate neighbors Georgia and Iran, "Nalbandian said.
At the same time, he added that among the foreign policy priorities of Armenia was the deepening of cooperation in international structures, as well as participation in various regional integration projects, since 2015 Armenia became a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, which is based on Yerevan's military- political and economic interests, and opens wide opportunities for the development of our country. According to Nalbandian, Armenia is an active member of the EAEU, and, through its realistic steps, has proved that it can develop effective cooperation with other integration projects.
According to the former minister, in the Armenia-EU relations an important achievement was the signing of a framework agreement on a comprehensive and expanded partnership. "We have deepened the traditional friendly partnership with France, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, the Vatican, Italy, Eastern and Central Europe, Scandinavian and other European countries." Serious progress has been recorded in relations with China, contacts with India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, business cooperation has developed with the Asian countries, with the countries of Latin America and Africa. With our efforts to normalize the Armenian-Turkish relations, international support for the settlement has increased relations between Yerevan and Ankara without preconditions, and the destructive position of Turkey on this issue was strongly criticized by the international community ", Nalbandian said.
At the same time, he noted that one of the most important directions of Armenia's foreign policy was the deepening of involvement in international organizations, including the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), the CSTO, NATO, the International Federation of Trade Unions.
"Moreover, Armenia has expanded its participation in international peacekeeping operations and strengthened the economic component of the Armenian foreign policy.Over the last ten years, about two dozen Armenian diplomatic missions have been opened in different countries of the world, 15 foreign diplomatic missions, , recognized Armenia, reached 175, we are members of 100 international organizations, over 900 international agreements have been signed over these years.On the background of recent events in Armenia, it is worth noting that the external The policy of our country, not only did not become the subject of criticism, but its main principles have been confirmed by various political forces ", - concluded Nalbandian.
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