On May 22, Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan met with Leo Docherty, Under Secretary of State for Europe of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
The meeting was followed by a joint press conference. Minister Mirzoyan’s statement for the media and the answer to the question of a journalist is presented below.
“Dear Minister,
I am pleased to welcome you in Armenia. Your visit is a good opportunity to touch upon Armenian-British bilateral agenda and discuss our joint steps aimed at enriching it. We value the established cooperation between Armenia and the United Kingdom and hope that through joint efforts we will be able to give it a new impetus in all areas of mutual interest. The launch of the announced strategic dialogue between Armenia and the United Kingdom is important for us. We hope that this will also be reflected in our cooperation on multilateral platforms.
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Dear colleagues,
Together with Minister Docherty we have expressed our readiness to take practical steps towards fully realising the existing potential in economic, scientific and cultural spheres. We see a certain increase in the volume of trade turnover, and we hope to record greater positive dynamics during the next meetings.
We also emphasized the importance of widening the legal basis between Armenia and the United Kingdom, especially by the signing of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. We believe that mutual high-level visits will be an impetus in this direction as well.
Today we also discussed the ambitious reform agenda of Armenia aimed at strengthening democratic institutions and the rule of law, protecting human rights, fighting corruption and ensuring effective governance. In this context, we value the continuous support of the United Kingdom to the democratic reforms of Armenia.
I would like to especially highlight the active dialogue between our parliaments and especially parliamentary friendship groups, which are also an important platform for discussions on issues of mutual interest.
Dear attendees,
The developments of regional security and stability were also the key subject of our discussions today. I briefed my colleague on the latest developments in the normalization process of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
I mentioned that in parallel with this process, Azerbaijan continues the illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor. During today’s discussions, I stressed that the blockade of the corridor has caused serious humanitarian problems in Nagorno-Karabakh, including through obstacles to the normal functioning of the Red Cross, the only international organization with access to Nagorno-Karabakh. It is obvious that the blockade is part of Azerbaijan’s policy of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Once again, I emphasized the importance of constructive involvement and active steps of the UN member states having a mandate for preservation of international security, including the United Kingdom, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. In this context, I emphasized the imperative of sending an international mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and Lachin corridor, ensuring the unimpeded access of international humanitarian organizations.
We value the support of our international partners also in solving such humanitarian issues as ensuring the return from Azerbaijan of all Armenian prisoners of war.
Despite the negotiation process, Azerbaijan also continues the occupation of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia and provocative actions, which contradict the statements made as a result of the Prague and Sochi meetings. In this context, let me remind you that the Alma-Ata declaration plays a fundamental role, to which the Armenian side remains faithful.
I reaffirmed to my counterpart that the Republic of Armenia is ready to implement the opening and reoperation of transport communications provided for in provision 9 of the Trilateral statement of November 9, 2020 and the Trilateral statement of January 11 based on the principles of sovereignty, jurisdiction, equality and reciprocity of the parties.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that for a comprehensive and lasting settlement in the region, the commitment to solve all existing problems without the use of force or the threat of use of force, the implementation of the delimitation process based on mutual recognition of territorial integrity, the imperative of urgent solution of humanitarian problems, as well as addressing the rights and security issues of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh under the mechanism of internationally guaranteed dialogue is key.
Mr. Docherty,
Once again, I want to thank you for today’s disscussions and pass the floor to you”.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Government
