On November 18, RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandyan had a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov during the one-day working visit to Moscow.

The private talks at the Reception Home of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs were followed by negotiations held with the participation of the delegations.

Greeting the Armenian Foreign Minister, the Russian Foreign Minister mentioned that the ministerial meetings provide the opportunity to follow the implementation of the agreements reached between the heads of the two states and that this meeting provided the opportunity to touch upon the development of political, economic, humanitarian, inter-parliamentary and decentralized cooperation and the expansion of the juridical-contractual field.

Expressing gratitude for the invitation to Moscow, the warm reception and the substantial negotiations, Edward Nalbandyan said the working meetings between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two countries are held on a regular basis. “This meeting is important in that it is devoted to the preparations for the Russian President’s visit to Armenia in early December. This meeting also provides the opportunity to discuss the implementation of the agreements reached during the September 3 meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Russia,” Minister Nalbandyan mentioned.

The interlocutors discussed integration processes in Eurasia and the preparations for Armenia’s accession to the Customs Union.

The Armenian and Russian Foreign Ministers discussed in detail a broad range of issues on the agenda of bilateral relations. The ministers discussed the process of approximation of the new bilateral agreements that are scheduled to be signed during the upcoming high-level meeting.

Foreign policy coordination and partnership within international organizations (United Nations, OSCE, CSTO, CIS, CoE, BSEC and other international levels) were also on the agenda of negotiations. In this context, Minister Lavrov congratulated his Armenian counterpart on Armenia’s effective chairmanship of the Council of Europe.

The sides expressed satisfaction with the fruitful cooperation established between the Armenian and Russian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and reached an agreement on developing and signing a plan of consultations between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs in 2014 and 2015.

Military-political and military-technical cooperation targeted at the strengthening of security in the South Caucasus was also on the agenda.

During the meeting, the ministers also exchanged views on the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. In this context, Armenia’s Foreign Minister expressed gratitude for Russia’s and the other co-chairing countries’ ongoing efforts in the negotiation process for a peaceful settlement of the conflict based on the principles of no force or threat of force, equal rights of nations and self-determination and territorial integrity as a whole. The sides attached importance to the November 19 meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Vienna.

The ministers exchanged views on the steps being taken to expand economic partnership.

The Armenian and Russian Foreign Ministers also exchanged views on regional and international issues.

Edward Nalbandyan invited Sergey Lavrov to pay an official visit to Armenia.

The ministerial meeting was followed by a joint press conference, reports the RA MFA press office to “Hayern Aysor”.