YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian received EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar on February 22.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, greeting the guest, Minister Nalbandian noted that he had a meaningful and productive meeting with Federica Maria Mogherini on February 21, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and highlighted the continues active dialogue with the EU.

The interlocutors referred to the issues of Armenia-EU relations, exchanged views on the ratification process of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement.

The Special Representative of the EU informed the Armenian FM about his recent meetings in Baku.

Edward Nalbandian presented to Toivo Klaar the joint efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair countries aimed at reaching an exclusively peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The Armenian FM noted that during the meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Krakow initiated by the Co-chairs an agreement was reached to expand the monitoring capacity of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office. “Regarding this agreement Armenia and the Co-chairs issued almost the same statements, while Azerbaijan never referred to this agreement. A few days ago the Co-chairs were in Baku and Azerbaijan again refused to respect this agreement”, Nalbandian emphasized. The Minister noted that in the statement issued based on the results of the last regional visit the Co-chairs once again underlined the necessity of the implementation of the commitments assumed during the summits. FM Nalbandian highly appreciated the unconditional support of the EU to this position of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs.

Edward Nalbandian also highlighted EU’s consistent position supporting the approaches of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs, particularly, the three principles of the international law that serve as basis for Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, which are the exclusion of using force or the threat to use it, territorial integrity, equality of nations and self-determination.

“The ambition of Baku to present their desires as the reality has reached a point that they do not hesitate to distort even EU’s principled approach”, Minister Nalbandian stressed.

Toivo Klaar reaffirmed the support of the EU to the activities and proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs aimed at a peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

English – translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan