Edward Nalbandian sums up results of 10 years of being head of  Armenian Foreign Ministry

ArmInfo. Edward Nalbandian summed up the results of 10 years of being on the post of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia.

In his "last" address to the Armenian society, Nalbandian assured  that over the past years a number of important achievements were  recorded and expressed confidence that in the future it will be  possible to realize what has not yet been realized. He also assured  that over the years of independence it was possible to form a viable  structure that honorably fulfills the tasks set for it. "One of the  most important priorities of Armenia's foreign policy - in the  Nagorno-Karabakh settlement over the past 10 years - has been to  achieve conceptual changes, our positions have been significantly  strengthened." The realization of the people's right to  self-determination is one of the cornerstones of our position, the  main recipe for resolving the issue is clearly enshrined in 5  statements at the level of the Heads of State of the OSCE Minsk Group  member countries: This is the position promoted by the general  public.If over the years, Azerbaijan has argued that the settlement  of the conflict should be based on the principle of territorial  integrity, today we have come to the point that the international  community emphasizes that the conflict must be resolved on the basis  of three known principles in a complex, and attempts to prefer one  principle to another will lead to the failure of negotiations, "he  said, and in this context, added that Armenia repeatedly stressed  that without the participation of Artsakh it is impossible to achieve  a comprehensive and long-term settlement of the conflict.

According to Nalbandian, today the co-chairs share this position and  this is fixed in the working documents of the negotiation process,  moreover, the Minsk mediators have recently begun to address the  statements addressed to Azerbaijan. At the same time, the former  Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia is convinced that Azerbaijan's  large-scale military aggression against Artsakh in April 2016 was due  to Baku's failure in the negotiation process, which thus tried to  impose its approaches to the settlement of problems. "Baku lost  again, as evidenced by the results of the summits in Vienna, St.  Petersburg and Geneva, as well as the statement of the co-chairing  countries." Today we can definitely state that the international  community and Armenia speak practically the same language, namely,  that alternatives to a peaceful settlement of the conflict based on  the realization of the right of the people of Artsakh to  self-determination, as well as international recognition and  guarantees of security, Armenia, as a negotiating party, has  repeatedly stressed that, together with the mediators, The processes  that have taken place substantiate our tactics, as well as the  correctness and justification of the steps, the achievements achieved  are the result of many years of consistent work, the preservation and  strengthening of which requires serious efforts, "Nalbandian said.

At the same time he stressed that another important priority of  Armenia's foreign policy was international recognition and  condemnation of the genocide, and over the past 10 years the number  of countries that recognized the Armenian Genocide increased by  almost one dozen, and administrative units of different countries and  international organizations - by several dozen. He recalled Armenia's  efforts to prevent further crimes against humanity, as well as  various initiatives taken at the UN level.

According to Nalbandian, in recent years the attention of the foreign  policy department has also been aimed at protecting the rights and  solving the problems of our compatriots abroad. As a vivid example,  he cited the assistance provided to the Syrian Armenians.

"The Armenian-Russian allied relations have deepened and widened over  the past ten years and are at a peak, political dialogue, economic  cooperation, military-technical, decentralized, scientific,  educational and humanitarian cooperation gained new impetus." In  2010, Armenia and Russia signed the 5th annex to the agreement on the  deployment of Russian troops in 1995, according to which Russia is  the guarantor of Armenia's security, and also provides the Armenian  side with modern weapons Thanks to joint efforts, a partnership with  the United States was raised to a qualitatively new level,  interaction was expanded in various fields, a framework agreement on  trade and investment was signed, the visa regime was simplified, the  United States implemented the largest investment in recent years with  our immediate neighbors Georgia and Iran, "Nalbandian said.

At the same time, he added that among the foreign policy priorities  of Armenia was the deepening of cooperation in international  structures, as well as participation in various regional integration  projects, since 2015 Armenia became a member of the Eurasian Economic  Union, which is based on Yerevan's military- political and economic  interests, and opens wide opportunities for the development of our  country.  According to Nalbandian, Armenia is an active member of the  EAEU, and, through its realistic steps, has proved that it can  develop effective cooperation with other integration projects.

According to the former minister, in the Armenia-EU relations an  important achievement was the signing of a framework agreement on a  comprehensive and expanded partnership. "We have deepened the  traditional friendly partnership with France, Germany, Greece,  Cyprus, the Vatican, Italy, Eastern and Central Europe, Scandinavian  and other European countries." Serious progress has been recorded in  relations with China, contacts with India, Japan, the Republic of  Korea, business cooperation has developed with the Asian countries,  with the countries of Latin America and Africa. With our efforts to  normalize the Armenian-Turkish relations, international support for  the settlement has increased relations between Yerevan and Ankara  without preconditions, and the destructive position of Turkey on this  issue was strongly criticized by the international community ",  Nalbandian said. 

At the same time, he noted that one of the most important directions  of Armenia's foreign policy was the deepening of involvement in  international organizations, including the Organization of the Black  Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), the CSTO, NATO, the International  Federation of Trade Unions.

"Moreover, Armenia has expanded its participation in international  peacekeeping operations and strengthened the economic component of  the Armenian foreign policy.Over the last ten years, about two dozen  Armenian diplomatic missions have been opened in different countries  of the world, 15 foreign diplomatic missions, , recognized Armenia,  reached 175, we are members of 100 international organizations, over  900 international agreements have been signed over these years.On the  background of recent events in Armenia, it is worth noting that the  external The policy of our country, not only did not become the  subject of criticism, but its main principles have been confirmed by  various political forces ", - concluded Nalbandian.