As part of his official visit to Brazil, Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan gave an interview to “Folha”, one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Brazil.
Answering the question on finalization of the the peace treaty text with Azerbaijan, Minister Mirzoyan noted:
“After decades of conflict, we have the feeling and confidence that there is a real opportunity to turn the page of enmity in our region and establish real peace and lasting stability.
But to make this a reality, we need a constructive approach from both sides. In Armenia, we see this opportunity and are fully committed to this peace agenda. We finally managed, together with our colleagues from Azerbaijan, to finalize the draft treaty.
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This peace treaty establishes some very important points that, if signed, ratified, and implemented, could serve as a solid foundation to build upon. I am mainly referring to the mutual recognition of territorial integrity. We recognize this integrity based on the borders that existed between our countries at the time of the Soviet Union’s collapse (in 1991). This is crucial. We also commit to refraining from the use of force and from interfering in each other’s internal affairs, among other terms. We are ready to immediately start consultations on the location and date of the signing.
Unfortunately, however, we see that Azerbaijan is introducing various new preconditions — artificial ones, I would say — into the peace agenda, making it more difficult to sign this treaty and establish institutionalized peace, so to speak.
We are almost there; we just need to show a little more political will — a strong political will — to meet and sign.
We have also proposed unblocking transportation links, starting with the railway that operated during Soviet times, and suggested a bilateral arms control and verification mechanism, as Azerbaijan has also expressed concerns on this matter.
Answering the question whether the signing of the Treaty would be possible having the preconditions posed by Azerbaijan, Minister Mirzoyan noted:
“We are ready to sign immediately. But what we hear from Azerbaijan does not give the impression that they are ready. Unfortunately, as I said, they keep introducing new preconditions”.
In the interview the bilateral relations between Armenia and Brazil were also touched upon.
Q: During your visit to the Itamaraty (Brazilian Foreign Ministry), you spoke about trade relations and had discussions on climate issues. How was the visit?
Minister Mirzoyan: We attach great importance to this visit because there had been no mutual visits for quite some time. Now we have decided to intensify our political dialogue with Brazil.
We have a very successful and mutually beneficial cooperation in international fora. We support each other’s candidacies whenever and wherever possible.
We share almost the same vision of reforming global governance and the entire system of international relations because we see that the current system does not function properly, especially when it comes to early warning mechanisms or preventing serious violations and mass violence.
Brazil will host COP30, and Armenia will host COP17 on biodiversity (in 2026). We appreciate the support we received from Brazil during the elections. These two events naturally bring us closer together. We also intend to organize and implement some joint events, most likely.
Q: What are your expectations for COP30?
Minister Mirzoyan: It is difficult to say. But what I can affirm is that COP30 should probably pay more attention to the needs of developing countries and the Global South in general.
I believe that, according to various assessments, this aspect has been somewhat absent in previous COPs.