YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. Acting foreign minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on November 20 met with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland on the sidelines of his working visit in Strasbourg, the foreign ministry told Armenpress.

During the meeting the two officials highly valued the effective cooperation between Armenia and the Council of Europe, exchanged views on a number of issues relating to Armenia’s engagement in the organization. The acting FM attached importance to the CoE role in democracy and human rights and noted that the organization’s 70th anniversary next year will be a good opportunity to sum up the achievements reached so far and outline the main future activity directions.

The sides also exchanged views on the effective implementation of Armenia-CoE action plan, as well as the ongoing works aimed at developing new action plan.

Touching upon the challenges facing the structure, the acting Armenian FM expressed Armenia’s full support to the ongoing efforts aimed at overcoming them, raising the effectiveness of its activities and strengthening its reputation. Zohrab Mnatsakanyan expressed concern over political manipulations of a number of issues in the structure, in particular those which relate to the promotion of the European values and human rights. Both highlighted the importance of ensuring cooperation unity over these issues.

The acting FM also introduced the tangible achievements and positive progress recorded by the Armenian government in the direction of reforms based on the mandate given from the people. As for the upcoming early parliamentary elections of Armenia, the acting minister said holding free, fair and transparent elections is among the priorities of the government.

During the meeting Zohrab Mnatsakanyan also introduced the CoE Secretary General on Armenia’s position and approaches over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, reaffirming the Armenian side’s commitment to the exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict within the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship format.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan