On July 20, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received the European Union’s Troika delegation headed by Carl Bildt, the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden.

In his welcoming remarks, Edward Nalbandian expressed satisfaction on expansion and deepening of Armenia-European Union cooperation. Stressing the significant contribution of the EU in the development of Armenia, Minister Nalbandian mentioned that Armenia will continue its foreign policy towards rapprochement with the European family and intends to implement necessary steps and reforms in that direction.

Minister Bildt thanked for the warm reception and said that the Eastern dimension is among the priorities of the EU Swedish Presidency. Foreign Minister of Sweden expressed his support the democratic reforms in Armenia.

The two had discussed issues related to Armenia-EU relationship, the ways of strengthening and expanding cooperation and joint steps to be taken in this direction. The sides emphasized with satisfaction that an efficient cooperation is going on between Armenia and the European Union in a number of formats.

Edward Nalbandian and Carl Bildt attached importance to the presence of the EU advisory group in Armenia, which assists the process of reforms implemented in Armenia, agreement on which was reached during the visit of the President of Armenia to Brussels on November 2008.

The Foreign Ministers also discussed issues related to deepening of Armenian-Swedish cooperation and emphasized with satisfaction that the ties between the businessmen of the two countries have become recently considerably active.

The agenda of the meeting also included the Armenian-Turkish normalization. It was noted that the European Union supports the steps undertaken in that direction.

They also touched upon the negotiations on the Artsakh issue and reaffirmed that the settlement of the conflict is possible only in a peaceful way, on the basis of the norms of international law: the principles of self-determination, territorial integrity and of non-use of force or threat of force.

The meeting was followed by a joint press conference of Edward Nalbandian and Carl Bildt.

To listen to the entire press conference in Armenian, click here.