On February 22, Edward Nalbandian, Foreign Minister of Armenia, who arrived in Moscow with an official visit, had a meeting with Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia.
The tete-a-tete meeting of Edward Nalbandian and Sergey Lavrov was followed by talks in an extended format with participation of delegations.
Welcoming Minister Nalbandian, Minister Lavrov highlighted the importance of traditional high-level visits for the development of allied relations between the two countries.
The Foreign Minister of Armenia expressed gratitude for the invitation and warm reception and noted the symbolic meaning of this official visit as it takes place in the jubilee year of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, as well as the importance of the visit as it takes place prior to the official visit of the President of Armenia to Russia.
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During the negotiations, the Ministers discussed in details the preparatory work for the upcoming official visit of the President of Armenia to Russia, the process of implementation of agreements reached at the level of the heads of the two states, as well as touched upon a wide range of issues of bilateral agenda.
The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Russia discussed the cooperation in political, military-technical, economic, interparliamentary, decentralized, humanitarian and cultural areas.
Coordination of foreign policy, as well as collaboration within the UN, OSCE, CSTO, EAEU, CIS and other international multilateral platforms were touched upon.
Edward Nalbandian and Sergey Lavrov discussed urgent international and regional issues. They talked about the situation in the Middle East and the efforts aimed at settlement of the Syrian crisis. Minister Nalbandian expressed gratitude to the Russian side for transporting the Armenian humanitarian aid to Syria.
The focus of the agenda of the meeting was the process of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Russia shared the view that there is no alternative to the peaceful settlement. They highlighted the importance of strictly adhering to the 1994-1995 trilateral agreements on ceasefire, which have no time limitations, inadmissibility of the use or threat of use of force, as well as the necessity to implement the agreements reached at the Summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg.
During the ceremony, which followed the Ministers’ meeting, Sergey Lavrov handed to Edward Nalbandian the Order of Friendship awarded to the Foreign Minister of Armenia by Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation.
In his turn Edward Nalbandian awarded Medals of Honour of the MFA of Armenia to Vasily Nebenzya, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Yevdokimov, Director of First CIS Department, Alexey Pavlovsky, Director of Fourth CIS Department, Maria Zakharova, Director of Press and Information Department, Yevgeny Ivanov, Director of Consular Department.
The meeting was followed by a joint press conference of Ministers Edward Nalbandian and Sergey Lavrov, during which the Ministers delivered statements and answered to a number of questions of journalists.
After the press conference, Sergey Lavrov hosted an official dinner in honour of Edward Nalbandian.