From September 17 to 18, Ashot Hovakimian, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, participated in the 17th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and in the preceding meeting, as an observer.
Hassan Rouhani, the Chairman of the NAM and the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, made an opening remarks, afterwards he transferred the next three-year-chairmanship to Nicolás Maduro Moros, the President of Venezuela.
In his remarks made within the framework of Foreign Ministers’ meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Hovakimian emphasized that the implementation of the right to self-determination is one of the pillars of the NAM. According to Deputy Foreign Minister, the Non-Aligned Movement has a principal stance on the unilateral sanctions and economic blockades, which inflicts a heavy burden upon the economy of landlocked countries. In this context, the inadmissibility of Turkey’s unilateral land blockade imposed on Armenia was touched upon.
Ashot Hovakimian emphasized that recognition and realization of the right to self-determination of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh should be essential in any substantive progress within this conflict settlement. In this regard he outlined inadmissibility of the fact that Azerbaijan, which has become the NAM member couple of years ago, disseminates information, which does not comply with the reality and contradicts the negotiation process, distorting the essence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and plunging the Movement to its narrow political manipulations. The Deputy Foreign Minister urged all those NAM member countries, who consider the right to self-determination as a fundamental principle of human rights, to prevent the violations of implementation of that right, and put an end to the deficient practice when the observer state has no possibility to take part in deliberations on the paragraphs directly targeting their national interests.
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Deputy Foreign Minister Hovakimian also delivered a speech in the plenary session of the summit and reacted to the decision of transferring the NAM’s 2019 Chairmanship to Azerbaijan. According to the Deputy Foreign Minister that state grossly violates the very aims, principles and values of the Non-Aligned Movement, and now will misuse the upcoming chairmanship for its narrow political interest to propagate anti-Armenian views and create obstacles for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, the only format which enjoys the international mandate.
Presenting the crimes committed by Azerbaijan against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh in recent years, especially during the April events, the Deputy Foreign Minister insisted on the fact that assumption of the NAM chairmanship by Azerbaijan will encourage that country to continue its deconstructive behaviour in negotiation process and its aggressive policy against the implementation of Nagorno-Karabakh’s people right to self-determination.
Ashot Hovakimyan also had a meeting with Samuel Monkada, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Venezuela, during which the perspectives of the Armenian-Venezuelan bilateral relations and the possibilities of cooperation between the two countries within international organizations were touched upon.
In Caracas the Deputy Foreign Minister visited the St. Grigor the Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian Center, laid a wreath at the Memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide, met with the representatives of the Venezuelan-Armenian community.