I am glad to once again welcome in Yerevan my good friend Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Mr. Steinmeier pays this visit in his both capacities as the Foreign Minister of Germany and the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.
Our meeting provided a good opportunity to discuss the perspectives of the development of the Armenian-German multilayer relationship. We expressed mutual satisfaction with the dynamic development of bilateral cooperation, which stems from the mutual aspiration to further develop and deepen relations between the two friendly countries.
We highly appreciate the role that the bilateral high-level visits play in the enhancement of cooperation between Armenia and Germany. As you know, Serzh Sargsyan, President of the Republic of Armenia, paid an official visit to Germany this April. His meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, held within the framework of the visit, was the third one between the leaders of the two countries since 2015. The dialogue between Ministers of Foreign Affairs also has a dynamic nature. Reciprocal visits have been made to Berlin and Yerevan, meetings have been held in multilateral fora. Naturally, the dialogue has intensified during the German Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2016.
We attached importance to regular consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, strengthening of cooperation within international organizations.
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The Armenian-German interparliamentary contacts are also expanding, the best evidence of which is the visit of Professor Norbert Lammert, President of the German Bundestag, to Armenia in March 2013.
Armenia highly values the adoption of the Resolution on the Armenian Genocide by German Bundestag on June 2. The Resolution complimented the Statement made by Federal President Joachim Gauck on April 23, 2015. By this step, Germany not only made a remarkable contribution to the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and to the efforts of the international community aimed at prevention of genocides and crimes against humanity, but also recognizes its part of responsibility for the Armenian Genocide.
In recent years, the Armenian-German agenda has been further expanded and enriched. About 60 agreements have been signed, and this number increased today by another significant document – Agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the Federal Republic of Germany on Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital.
Office of the German Business Association was opened in Yerevan in April. This fact alone stands as a sign of mutual interest in the expansion of bilateral trade and economic relations and its vast perspectives.
Germany is one of the leading countries of the European Union and hence we discussed efforts aimed at further strengthening of relations between Armenia and the European Union, particularly, the process of negotiations over the new comprehensive agreement with the EU.
As I have mentioned, the Federal Foreign Minister of Germany visits Yerevan also in his capacity as the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. Therefore, the agenda of our meeting included issues pertaining to the OSCE. I have reaffirmed Armenia’s support to the priorities of the OSCE German Chairmanship. We reflected on the preparatory works of the OSCE Ministerial Meetings scheduled in September in Potsdam and in December in Hamburg.
Armenia highly appreciates the support of the German Chairmanship to the efforts of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs aimed at exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. From the very first moment of assuming the OSCE Chairmanship, Germany has supported the proposals of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs on creation of the mechanism for investigation of the ceasefire violations and expansion of capabilities of the team of Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.
As you know, those two proposals, as well as the issue of unequivocal implementation of the 1994-1995 ceasefire agreements, were on the agenda of Vienna and St. Petersburg Summits. The implementation of these issues will create favourable conditions for advancement of the negotiation process. It is based on this understanding that Armenia on numerous occasions has expressed positive stance on the implementation those proposals and now as well works with the Co-Chairs in this direction.
I would also like to value the activities of the OSCE office in Yerevan and stress, that it is the only full fledged OSCE mission in the region, which once again demonstrates Armenia’s commitment to cooperation within the OSCE.
Now, I would like to pass the floor to my counterpart.