The meeting of the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Armenia and Portugal took place

The Armenian Defense Minister met with his Portuguese counterpart

On November 20, the meeting of Heads of States and Governments of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) dedicated to Afghanistan took place. The Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministers of the Republic of Armenia Edward Nalbandian and Seyran Ohanyan attended the meeting.

The Heads of the United States, Portugal, Afghanistan, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and other states who participate in the international security forces in Afghanistan, as well as the General Secretaries of the UN and the NATO and the President of the EU European Commission attended the meeting and delivered a speech.

The Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian also delivered a speech at the summit and mentioned that the situation in Afghanistan is of common concern to many states in spite of how geographically far or close they are to Afghanistan.

Minister Nalbandian underlined, “The meeting of the representatives of 49 states who gathered around one table to elaborate collective steps for finding solutions to that country’s problems proves this fact. With this concern in mind Armenia joined the international forces maintaining security in Afghanistan and expressed its willingness to expand its presence. ”

Edward Nalbandian stressed the importance of military and financial aid to Afghanistan, and he underlined that it is much more important to restore Afghan people’s confidence in its ability to construct stable, secure and prosperous future. In this context, Minister Nalbandian expressed Armenia’s support to the steps undertaken by the international community. Minister Nalbandian also added that those steps would entail transformation of current military operation into modified mission of long term assistance projects and intensification of political, economic and humanitarian interaction.

In the course of the summit, Minister Nalbandian also met with his Portuguese counterpart Luís Amado.

Welcoming the Armenian Foreign Minster, Luís Amado stated, “In Portugal, Armenia has a reliable friend that is ready to expand cooperation in all spheres.”

In his turn, Edward Nalbandian underlined Armenia’s willingness to undertake efficient steps for developing relations with Portugal and establish such a collaboration as it has with many European countries.

During the talk, the Foreign Affairs Ministers attached importance of undertaking steps towards the boosting of political dialogue. The interlocutors also discussed the issues related to the holding of consultations between the Foreign Ministries of two countries, interaction in the international organizations, forming of legal cooperation framework, facilitating of entrance visa regime between two countries and economic cooperation.

Accepting the invitation of the Armenian Foreign Minister to visit Armenia, Luís Amado informed that he will pay a visit to Armenia in the first half of 2011.

In the frames of Lisbon summit, the Defense Minister of the Republic of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan met with his Portuguese counterpart Augusto Santo. The Armenian and Portuguese Defense Ministers had a reciprocally interesting discussion on the possibilities to expand cooperation between the two Ministeries.