ArmInfo. The visit of the Bulgarian President to Armenia will play a key role in the further development of the Armenian-Bulgarian relations. This January 12 in Yerevan at a joint press conference with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyan. He noted that in a warm atmosphere he had held substantive discussions with the Bulgarian counterpart on the agenda of bilateral relations, touched upon topical international issues, confirmed the commitment to continue developing mutually beneficial and friendly relations. As Sargsyan noted, an agreement was reached at the meeting to give impetus to mutually beneficial bilateral and multilateral cooperation. "I congratulated my Bulgarian colleague on the chairmanship of the EU Council, the European Union is an important partner of Armenia and this is another area where we can develop our cooperation," the Armenian leader said. According to the Armenian leader, the Armenian-Bulgarian economic relations were also discussed at the meeting, mutual satisfaction was expressed with the positive dynamics recorded in mutual trade turnover. However, Sargsyan added that, despite the positive dynamics, not all the existing potential was used, including in such areas as culture and tourism. According to the Armenian President, Armenia's membership in the EAEU and Bulgaria in the EU opens new opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation. At the same time, Sargsyan noted that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was also discussed at the meeting. At the same time he stressed the importance of the Armenian partners' assistance to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group dealing with the settlement of the conflict. The Armenian leader also noted the importance of an agreement in the Armenia-EU agreement on a comprehensive and expanded partnership where the member countries express support for the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group. "At the end of our meeting, I invited my Bulgarian counterpart to the summit of the International Organization of Francophonie, which will be held in autumn in Yerevan and gladly accepted his invitation to visit Bulgaria," Sargsyan said.

ArmInfo. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group spread the statement on the results of their visits to Yerevan and Baku.

ArmInfo. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met with the co- chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Popov (Russia), Stefan Visconti (France) and Andrew Shoffer (USA) and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, who arrived in Yerevan as part of the regional visit.

ArmInfo. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will visit Yerevan on February 8-9. Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan told ArmInfo.

ArmInfo. Armenian Ambassador to Romania Sergey Minasyan during the meeting with his French colleague Michel Ramis presented the main directions and priorities of the Armenian foreign policy, regional problems, and Yerevan's approaches to their solution. According to the press service of Armenian Embassy in Romania, Minasyan told about preparatory works for the 17th Francophonie Summit, scheduled for October in Yerevan. The parties discussed issues of cooperation in the region of Francophonia, touched on joint activities and prospects for cooperation. The interlocutors discussed the prospects for expanding and deepening bilateral and multilateral cooperation against the background of a comprehensive and expanded partnership signed between Armenia and the EU last November. Minasyan also spoke about the process of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, the latest developments, as well as the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to advance the negotiation process. The ambassadors also exchanged views on topical international and regional issues.

ArmInfo. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian suggested inviting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to celebrate the 2800th anniversary of Erebuni- Yerevan.

ArmInfo. The comprehensive and enlarged agreement signed between Armenia and the EU is an important milestone in bilateral relations. This January 29, summing up the results of 2017, said Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

ArmInfo.In 2018, Russia will continue the course aimed at equipping the Eurasian space. The head of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy of Russia, director for  scientific work of the Valdai Club, Fyodor Lukyanov, expressed his opinion to ArmInfo.

ArmInfo. The Azerbaijani Embassy in Canada handed a note to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development of this country on the fact of the "illegal" visit of Canadian deputies Tony Clement and Rachel Harder to Nagorno-Karabakh on September 2, 2017, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported.

ArmInfo. In the situation developing in the Greater Middle East, the possibility of a terrorist war in the South Caucasus is much more likely than a full-scale war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

ArmInfo. Armen Ashotyan, Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, on January 24 received the Swedish MP of the European Parliament, a member of the EPP faction Lars Adaktuson, who is in Armenia at the  initiative and invitation of the European Office of Hay Dat (Armenian  Court) of the ARF. The head of the European office of Hay Dat G.  Karapetyan attended the meeting.

ArmInfo. A compromise on Karabakh should be courageous, - French President Emmanuel Macron said during a meeting with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in  France on a working visit.

ArmInfo. India supports the negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group. Ambassador of India to Azerbaijan Sanjay Rana told Trend.

ArmInfo.

ArmInfo. In the first decade of February, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will visit the region. This is stated in the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group co- chairs, distributed following the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov in Krakow.

ArmInfo. France welcomes any meetings aimed at a long-term settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

ArmInfo. The danger of the transfer of contradictions from other regions to the Caucasus will persist, and as a result, require special attention, and in 2018. A similar opinion was expressed by ArmInfo famous Russian analyst Sergei Markedonov. "The Karabakh settlement is the most dangerous point of the South Caucasus in 2018, which is currently the only platform on which the West and Russia interact, the unwillingness of the opposing sides to compromise, the unwillingness of the mediating countries to view Karabakh as a problem for which they could neglect their own contradictions , leaves geopolitical uncertainty for the South Caucasus relevant, "the analyst believes. The forthcoming presidential elections and internal political changes in Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2018 are considered by Markedonov in the context of lowering the already low chances for the way of political elites of the conflicting countries towards mutual concessions and compromises. That is why the analyst explains the intensification of the negotiation process in the last months of 2017. According to him, accompanied by imprudent statements and promises, the election campaign is dangerous with the ability to provoke violations on the contact line in Karabakh and, most riskily, along the actual Armenian-Azerbaijani state border. "Given the lack of effective prescriptions to prevent this scenario, it remains to hope only for the refusal of the elites to rock the geopolitical pendulum because of their unwillingness to aggravate the internal political situation in the election year." There are hopes for the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries, "he said. Markedonov is convinced that there is no guarantee that Washington will not use Caucasian plots as an additional resource of pressure on Moscow. According to him, any buildup of military cooperation between the US and Georgia is quite capable of changing the existing status quo around Georgia, which is relatively stable, especially in comparison with Karabakh. "In this light, it seems that many of the risks and surprises for the Caucasus in 2018 are hidden not so much in intra-regional dynamics as in external factors, especially in the light of the complete unpredictability of US relations with Russia and Iran," Markedonov concluded.

ArmInfo. Azerbaijan will not be allowed to unleash another war around Karabakh with substantially reduced financial resources and Turkey. Anatoly Tsyganok, director of the Military Forecasting Center of the Institute for Political and Military Analysis (Moscow), expressed this opinion to ArmInfo. "The agreement on the ceasefire from 1994 as a whole will be observed not least because of a significant reduction in the financial revenues of Azerbaijan.I can say that the purchase of new types of weapons, in contrast to past years, has already become a significant problem for Baku," he said. According to the report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), only in 2015 Baku allocated 18% for military articles - up to $ 5 billion of all budget allocations. More than 85% of weapons Azerbaijan continues to import from Russia. According to unofficial data, during the years of Azerbaijan's independence, Moscow supplied weapons worth $ 12 billion to the country-participant of the Karabakh conflict. As a second factor in curbing the militancy of Baku regime, the military expert points out the lack of interest in the new Karabakh aggravation of Turkey. In this issue, according to his estimates, Ankara's position is consonant with the position of its temporary, but an ally in the person of Moscow. "Russia and Turkey will not want to spoil relations over Karabakh, it is unprofitable for the Kremlin or Ankara, these two countries will not simply allow Baku to initiate new military actions, which is why it is not necessary to predict the repetition of the April 2016 provocation in the near future. Despite periodic escalations on the line of contact, the ceasefire agreement will continue to be observed, in general, "the Tsyganok summed up. The OSCE Minsk Group has been dealing with the settlement of the Karabakh conflict since 1992, represented by the co-chairs from Russia, the United States and France. Currently, the settlement process is based on the Madrid Principles put forward by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in 2007 and the updated Madrid Principles in 2009, including, among other things, the deployment of a peacekeeping contingent in the conflict zone.

ArmInfo. On January 9, Ruben Sadoyan, Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Georgia, had a working meeting with Ian C. Kelly, the US Ambassador to Georgia.   Ambassador Sadoyan briefed his colleague on Armenia's foreign policy  priorities, as well as presented in details the steps being  undertaken towards that direction and the current developments.  

ArmInfo.No progress is forecasted if not by 100%, by 99%, Alexander Iskandaryan, the Director of Caucasus Institute expressed such an opinion to the journalists in Yerevan.