Latest version of draft peace treaty contains fully agreed upon articles, says Armenian FM

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The latest version of the draft peace treaty conveyed by Armenia to Azerbaijan contains an agreed upon text including agreed upon articles or agreed upon parts of several articles, according to Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.

Mirzoyan made the remarks at a joint press conference with his counterpart from Luxembourg Xavier Bettel in Yerevan.

Xavier Bettel, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade & Minister for Cooperation of Luxembourg is on an official visit in Armenia.

Mirzoyan said he has frequent contacts with Bettel, during which they discuss bilateral relations, Armenia-EU ties, as well as regional issues.

The Armenian FM welcomed Bettel’s valued participation in the Yerevan Dialogue forum. 

“Your visit is a good chance to speak about other issues as well,” Mirzoyan told Bettel. “Back in February I paid a visit to Luxembourg, and we opened our diplomatic office there. This is a very tangible and concrete proof about our approach for Luxembourg and our relationship.” He said that both countries have developed good foundation for sectoral cooperation in the economy and education, which are somewhat lagging behind the level of existing political dialogue.

Aside from bilateral ties, both countries support each other in multilateral platforms as well, he added.

“During our meeting we attached importance to our cooperation in multilateral platforms. Of course the Armenia-EU cooperation is an important part of our agenda, and we already have the official launch of the Armenia-EU visa liberalization dialogue, we have a positive signal from the EU about this, we have the EU decision on providing support as part of the European Peace Facility, we have the EU monitoring mission on our border, and we must once again state that ever since its inception it has been a rather effective instrument to monitor the situation and basically to ensure certain stability,” FM Mirzoyan said, adding that Armenia has several instruments with the EU.

Armenia and the EU are working on forming a new partnership agenda, he said.

He thanked FM Bettel for Luxembourg’s unwavering and clear support.

Issues concerning South Caucasus were also discussed. Mirzoyan said he briefed his colleague that Armenia conveyed to Azerbaijan the 10th version of the draft peace treaty.

“It is no longer a secret that this version, by and large, contains a fully agreed upon text. These are fully agreed upon articles or the agreed upon parts of several articles. We are waiting for Azerbaijan’s response,” Mirzoyan said, adding that Armenia believes there is a real chance to sign a peace treaty in a short period of time.

Armenia is ready to start the unblocking process as soon as possible as part of the principles presented in the Crossroads of Peace concept, he said.