Good afternoon!

I am glad to welcome my good friend in Armenia - the OSCE chairperson in office, First Deputy Prime-Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dačić.

Together with Mr. Dačić we meet frequently both in bilateral format and in the framework of International forums. This is natural, as Armenia and Serbia, Armenians and Serbs are brotherly countries and peoples.

During the history there have been numerous occasions when at difficult times based on mutual solidarity Armenian and Serbian peoples extended hand to each other. We mutually appreciate the centuries-old friendship that unites Armenia and Serbia.

Indeed, special mentioning and appreciation is attached to the participation of the President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolić at the Armenian Genocide Centennial commemorations in Yerevan.

We used this opportunity to discuss the steps undertaken for the development and expansion of bilateral cooperation. We can state with satisfaction that practical steps are undertaken to implement the agreements. A high level political dialogue is expanding, we are working on the establishment of diplomatic representations in Yerevan and in Belgrade and on the liberalization of the visa regime.

During the meeting we discussed issues related to the activation of trade and economic, cultural and inter-parliamentary ties.

After the meeting we signed Memorandum on the cooperation between the Foreign Ministries of the two countries which envisages holding of regular political consultations.

This much about the contents of the bilateral meeting.

Mr. Dačić is visiting Yerevan also as OSCE chairperson in-office, thus issues of the Organization's agenda were at the core of our attention. I reaffirmed Armenia's support to the implementation of Serbia's priorities in the OSCE.

We touched upon the crisis in Ukraine, the steps of the OSCE to resolve it. We stressed the necessity of the fulfilment of Minsk agreements.
We also discussed in detail the process of settlement of NK issue, the efforts of Armenia and OSCE Minsk Group's Co-Chairs towards that direction. Ivica Dačić reaffirmed Serbian Chairmanship's complete support to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

I will stop here and pass the floor to Minister Dačić.

Please Ivica.

 

Questions and Answers

Question (Second Armenian TV Channel): Mr. Minister, yesterday Mamedyarov stated that Azerbaijan is ready to move forward in the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process. Does this give any room for optimism?

Edward Nalbandian: There is a need to find out from which side progress is expected, from the international community or Azerbaijan itself is ready to move forward. Because Azerbaijan has had a quite unconstructive and unrealistic position towards the resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh issue so far. It became obvious last time in Riga Summit where the leaders of 28 EU member-states and Eastern Partnership states participated.

All those states, except for Azerbaijan, agreed on the formulation on Nagorno-Karabakh problem that was included in the declaration. It was about the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It was a general formulation, that all the countries support the efforts of the Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, as well as support the well-known five statements on Nagorno-Karabakh issue made by the heads of the Co-Chair countries. Azerbaijan opposed to that formulation showing that no progress, no change has been made in its position.
If from now on they want to change and make their approach more constructive, then why not? We will see.

Question (Public TV of Armenia): During the last days much is being said about the adoption of the resolution on the Armenian Genocide recognition by the Brazilian Senate. Eventually what has happened in Brazil? Has the Senate recognized or not?

Edward Nalbandian: Concerning the decision of the Brazilian Senate I can reaffirm that decision has been made. The appropriate decision was published yesterday by the Brazilian Senate and is available on their website. I also can reaffirm that Armenia welcomes the decision on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide adopted by the Brazilian Senate.

Indeed this is another important step in support of the efforts of international community for the prevention of new genocides and crimes against humanity.

Question (News.am news agency): Mr.Nalbandian the question is for you. You recently visited Syria. Could you tell more in detail about the visit?

Edward Nalbandian: From the first day of the Syrian crisis the security issues of the Syrian Armenians are at the core of our attention. We closely follow the developments in Syria and try to find solutions for the strengthening of the security of our Syrian-Armenian brothers.

The aim of my visit was to get acquainted with the developments on the ground in Syria. We think, that the crisis could be solved by immediate cessation of hostilities, through dialogue between all political forces of Syria, with protection of Syrian minorities including Christians as well as Syrian-Armenians, and of course, through common position and fight against terrorism. You know that there are thousands of Syrian-Armenians in Armenia and Armenia's leadership, the government have done and are continuing to do the utmost to support our Syrian-Armenian brothers.

It was very important to meet the leaders and representatives of Armenian community in Syria during the visit, to express to them our solidarity, our support, to say again, that Armenia stands behind them. During the meeting with the community organizations one of the leaders said that this meeting was like a vitamin for them. I think that this shows in the best way the importance of the visit.