YEREVAN, MAY 20, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan received Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on May 20, who is currently in Yerevan to participate in the regular meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council.

The President welcomed Medvedev and expressed hope the session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council will be marked by its effectiveness.

 “During your last official visit we discussed the more urgent and delicate issues of our agenda. I think we will continue that conversation today, because that period was really a difficult one for our region, which was created by gross violations of the 1994-95 agreements by Azerbaijan.

Literally a few days ago I returned from Vienna, where we, along with the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries discussed the situation and ways of coming out of it. An agreement has been reached on conducting monitoring and installing ceasefire violation investigative mechanisms. We, Of course, will do everything from our side for these violations to be excluded, and I hope the OSCE MG co-chairing countries’ FMs will consistently implement the decisions which we had jointly made.  You are welcome, I am happy to meet you Mr. Medvedev”, Serzh Sargsyan said.

Medvedev said he is happy for the opportunity to meet President Sargsyan and stressed that this is already their 2nd meeting in a month, which is very good, as it characterizes the level of relations between Russia and Armenia, the allied nature of relations which exist between the two countries and the two peoples.

“Last time, we really held bilateral negotiations, and today the sessions of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council will take place. We will discuss various issues, first and foremost economical, which are beneficial for all countries. I appreciate the invitation of the heads of governments to hold this event in Yerevan, as this event is first of its kind here.

 Also, the head of the Eurasian Commission is also presenting Armenia, which in this context is symbolic. We will talk, and the colleagues from the government will report the results to you.  I am sure we will reach agreements which are necessary, I repeat, for promoting our economies. Indeed, my previous visit took place during a difficult situation. I want to say that we in Russia, nevertheless, were following the developments strenuously, helped as much as possible for the situation to normalize.

It is important for the ceasefire regime to be maintained. In this context, we of course fully welcome your meeting with the Azerbaijani President, which took place in Vienna, as well as the efforts within the framework of the Minsk Group, which are aimed at maintaining dialogue, continuing talks and preventing this kind of incidents in the future, taking into account the maintenance of those agreements, which were historically reached in 1994-95, and of course for more strengthened regional peace and moving forward the final settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

You can be certain that Russia always assisted and will continue assisting the settlement issue of this difficult conflict. And now we will discuss all issues regarding this”, Medvedev said.

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Photos by Felix Arustamyan