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  • The Address Of The Foreign Affairs Minister Edward Nalbandyan At The

    THE ADDRESS OF THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER EDWARD NALBANDYAN AT THE ANNUAL PRESS CONFERENCE, SUMMARIZING THE FOREIGN POLICY

    Noyan Tapan
    www.nt.am
    14.01.2011

    Dear journalists,

    Ladies and gentlemen,

    First of all I would like to congratulate you for the Christmas and
    wish you Happy New Year. I wish the 2011 to be a year of prosperity
    for you, your families and our country. Today, traditionally,
    our press-conference is dedicated to the summarizing of the 2010
    foreign policy.

    Probably you are acquainted with my interview given to the Public
    Television at the end of the last year where in some sense the past
    year's foreign policy is summarized. You can find the transcript of the
    mentioned interview on the web-site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    In my address I will concentrate on the most important events, and
    you can further find more detailed information in the Annual Report
    issued by the Ministry which will be distributed to you. Based on the
    guidelines given by the President of the Republic, the activities
    of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2010 were aimed at ensuring
    favourable external conditions for the development of the state,
    strengthen its image, raise the efficiency of the protection
    of Armenian and its citizens' interests abroad, present Armenian
    approaches in the international arena, deepening the involvement in
    international organizations and processes, further strengthening
    cooperation with partner and friendly states as well as settle
    relations with countries, with which some problems exist.

    Thanks to the Armenian diplomacy's efforts, in the process of
    the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, it became obvious that
    the Armenian approaches are in line with the approaches of the
    international community, which was reaffirmed in the five-sided
    joint statement during the OSCE Summit in Astana on December 1,
    in the Muskoka Statement by the heads of the OSCE Minsk Group
    Co-Chair countries in the sidelines of the G8 Summit on June 26,
    in the Astrakhan Declaration adopted by the Presidents of Armenia,
    Russia and Azerbaijan on 27th of October, in the statement by the
    Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group during the Almaty meeting of the
    OSCE Ministers of Foreign Affairs on 17th of July.

    During the year the President of the Republic visited all the
    permanent member-states of the UN Security Council, had meetings
    with the leadership of those countries. Last year was significant in
    terms of further strengthening the Armenian-Russian partnership and
    strategic relations, the culmination of which was the state visit
    of the President Medvedev to Armenia, negotiations with the Armenian
    President Sargsyan, the reached agreements and signed documents.

    During 2010 the Armenian-US relations reached on a qualitatively new
    level, which was particularly marked by President Serzh Sargsyan's
    visit to Washington DC, meeting with the US President Barack Obama as
    well as by the US State Secretary Hillary Clinton's visit to Yerevan.

    Negotiations with EU on the Association Agreement have started where
    an essential progress has been made. As a result of it, the cooperation
    between Armenia and the EU will be put on a new basis.

    Rapprochement with the European family continues to remain as one of
    the Armenian foreign policy priorities.

    Multidimensional cooperation with neighbouring Georgia and Iran has
    continued. Foundations were laid for implementation of projects of
    strategic importance with those countries. The policy of Armenia to
    normalise the Armenian-Turkish relations has been received by the
    international community with full understanding and support.

    Purposeful steps were undertaken to further develop mutually beneficial
    cooperation with the Asian countries, particularly with China, India
    and Japan.

    Active steps were initiated to develop relations with Arabic
    countries during the year. Efforts were exerted to further extend
    the cooperation with the countries of Latin America. Armenia has been
    actively involved in the cooperation within the Collective Security
    Treaty Organisation. Meetings of the Heads of the member-states of
    the Organisation took place in Yerevan and Sevan.

    Armenia intensively participated in the activities of the CIS and
    EurAsEC and in the processes occurring within those Organisations.

    The Individual Partnership Action Plan with NATO has been successfully
    implemented. Armenia has continued its participation in international
    peace-keeping activities. The participation in the activities of
    the UN and other international organizations, as well as the active
    involvement in the international campaign against terrorism and other
    challenges has continued.

    One of the pivotal issues of the foreign policy was the establishment
    of stability, cooperation, security and peace in the South Caucasus.

    Armenia exerted efforts to the achievement of a stable and secure
    region.

    The economic dimension of foreign policy has continued to play an
    important role in our agenda, both in bilateral and multilateral
    relations with international structures and financial institutions.

    As a result of continuous work in inter-governmental trade and economic
    committees of dozens of countries, agreements for future extensive
    cooperation were reached, new projects were planned.

    International cooperation in the fields of culture and education has
    continued. Armenian Foreign Ministry contributed to the activities
    of other Armenian state institutions in order to develop foreign
    relations.

    A big number of visits, political consultations, meetings and events
    took place on intergovernmental, interagency and decentralized levels,
    agreements were reached, around 70 international agreements were
    signed which could serve as a good basis for future development of
    the bilateral and multilateral relations.

    The international recognition of the Armenian Genocide was in the
    foreign policy agenda. On the 95th Anniversary of the Genocide events
    were organised in around four dozens of countries to which the Armenian
    diplomatic representations have shown their support. The Diplomatic
    school of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs started to function in 2010,
    which will soon have its first graduates.

    The Law on Diplomatic Service has been amended, the Ministry
    underwent structural changes. Last year Armenia opened embassies
    in 7 countries (Kuwait, Czech Republic, Spain, Japan, Brazil, Iraq,
    and the Netherlands).

    Activities continued to further form international public opinion on
    Armenia. The Armenian President and Foreign Minister made speeches
    in leading think tanks, had interviews to eminent international mass
    media outlets.

    The President of the Republic had 22 foreign visits, Armenia
    has been visited by 6 heads of other countries. President of the
    National Assembly made 9 visits abroad. Prime-minister made 8 foreign
    visits. 3 Heads of Foreign Governments, 14 Foreign Ministers, 5 Heads
    of International organisations visited Armenia. Armenian Foreign
    Minister made 24 visits. Thanks to the active and initiating foreign
    policy on the international arena Armenia continued the strengthening
    of its position as a predictable and trustful partner. Let me once
    again congratulate you on the occasion of the holidays and wish
    effective cooperation in the upcoming 2011.




    From: A. Papazian
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