ArmInfo. RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, who is on a working visit to France, spoke at the discussions on the Armenian foreign policy after the Velvet Revolution, which took place at the French Institute of International Relations with the participation of leading experts and according to the Chatham House rules.
The press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told ArmInfo that at the beginning of his speech Mnatsakanyan spoke about the priorities of Armenian foreign policy, as well as the program of reforms implemented by the government based on the broad mandate received from the people. "The velvet revolution in Armenia is an exclusively internal political process. I am sure that you will remember the flow of people on the streets of the country demanding changes and the Armenian tricolor was raised, there were no other flags. The velvet revolution in Armenia has no geopolitical overtones. It concerns us, our country and our people ", said the head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, adding that Armenia's foreign policy is based on a deep awareness of security, which is due to a number of factors: the historical context, regional politics and current world challenges.
According to Mnatsakanyan, over the past 27 years, Armenia has built its security architecture, which is based on a comprehensive and partnership security principle. At the same time, he added that this principle includes military-political security, state and public structures of Armenia, security of economic and social development. The head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry also stated that in order to ensure comprehensive security, Armenia interacts with its allies and international partners, constantly assuming that the Armenian foreign policy is exclusively pro-Armenian, and Yerevan never builds its relations with one country at the expense of another.
During the discussions, Mnatsakanyan also presented the position of Armenia on a number of regional and international topical issues. He also touched upon the approaches and principles of Armenia on an exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, stressing that the settlement of the problem should be based on respect for the indisputable right to safe and free residence of the Artsakh people.