On December 6th, during his working visit to Milan, acting Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan met with Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček.

The acting Foreign Minister of Armenia congratulated his counterpart on his appointment, wishing him all the success in his important mission.

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Tomáš Petříček exchanged views on the existing fruitful cooperation between the countries and a range of issues on the agenda of Armenian-Czech relations. The interlocutors stressed their mutual readiness to take measures aimed at expanding and enhancing the bilateral agenda and fully utilizing the existing potential. In this context, acting Foreign Minister Mnatsakanyan highlighted the spheres of innovation, high technology, and smart development as key directions for cooperation, emphasizing the importance of initiating programs for sharing experience in those fields.

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan briefed his Cech counterpart on the latest domestic political developments in Armenia and touched upon forthcoming snap parliamentary elections, reiterating the commitment of the Government of Armenia, based on its broad popular mandate, to hold free and fair elections that reflect the will of the people.

The sides exchanged views on the Armenia-EU partnership. In this context, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan noted that the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership is a good opportunity for addressing the achievements made within this format and for outlining the prospects for joint work with particular focus on the youth.

The acting Foreign Minister presented Armenia’s approaches to and position on the strictly peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Mnatsakanyan stressed that the security and status of Artsakh are priority for Armenia, by emphasizing the establishment of the environment conducive to peace for the advancement of the negotiation process, primarily through the diligent implementation of existing agreements and through the elimination of ceasefire violations and bellicose rhetoric.