YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. While on a working visit in Cyprus, acting Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with Thorbjørn Jagland , Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE) on May 19, press service of the Ministry told Armenpress.

During the meeting a number of issues relating to Armenia’s involvement in the CoE were discussed. In this context a reference was made to the effective implementation of Armenia-CoE action plan.

The acting FM and the CoE Secretary General discussed the possibility to settle several issues faced by the organization. Thorbjørn Jagland greatly valued the productive cooperation between Armenia and the CoE.

Edward Nalbandian presented to Jagland the results of the April 2 parliamentary elections held in Armenia. The acting Minister highly appreciated the contribution of international partners to its reforms aimed at strengthening the democratic institutions and electoral processes, including the expert assistance provided by the Council of Europe and the Venice Commission.

During the talk the sides discussed the ongoing developments in PACE and the necessity to take practical steps aimed at restoring trust towards the organization.

Edward Nalbandian presented the ongoing efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries aimed at creating respective conditions to move forward the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. He said Baku does everything to undermine peace process. Opposing to the consistent calls of the OSCE MG Co-Chairing countries and the international community to strictly maintain the ceasefire regime, Azerbaijan continues grossly violating the trilateral termless ceasefire agreements.  

The acting Armenian FM said Armenia constantly calls on the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs to issue addressed statements.

“By rejecting the creation of investigative mechanism, Azerbaijan wants to avoid responsibility for its regular ceasefire violations, however, the non-standard statement released yesterday by the Co-Chairs clearly mentions the guilty side”, Edward Nalbandian stated.