Edward Nalbandian on the results of the meeting with Foreign Minister of Tajikistan (video)
Press statement of Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian on the results of the meeting with Foreign Minister of Tajikistan Sirodjidin Aslov Dear friends, I am glad to welcome in Yerevan my good friend and colleague, Foreign Minister of Tajikistan Sirodjidin Aslov, who is paying an official visit to Armenia. Relations between Armenia and Tajikistan are based on centuries-old mutual respect and sympathy between our peoples, which has served as a basis for the establishment of friendly relations between our states since the independence. Arrangement on undertaking practical steps to give a new dynamics and substance to bilateral relations was reached during the meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Tajikistan, Serzh Sargsyan and Emomali Rahmon, respectively, on September 14, 2015, in Dushanbe. Hence, within this context we value Mr. Aslov’s visit – the first visit of the Foreign Minister of Tajikistan to Armenia, as well as the recent accreditation of the first Ambassador of Tajikistan to Armenia. My colleague and I discussed in details the preparatory works of forthcoming visit of the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon to Armenia, which is scheduled for Autumn, and issues on the expansion of cooperation between Armenia and Tajikistan in bilateral and multilateral frameworks. Particularly, we exchanged thoughts on the development of cooperation in political, economic, cultural and educational fields, as well as the possibilities of implementing mutually beneficial projects. We attached importance to the holding of regular consultations between the Foreign Ministries of the two countries, the enhancement of cooperation within international organizations and the expansion of legal framework. In this regard, we highly value today’s signing of 2016-2018 Program of Consultations between the MFAs of two countries. The Armenia-Tajikistan Inter-Governmental Committee operates since 2004, and the issue of intensifying the Committee’s activity was also on the agenda of our meeting. We expect the next session of the Committee to be held in the near future. Mr. Aslov and I exchanged thoughts on ways to promote the trade and economic cooperation between our countries. We emphasized the importance of parliamentary format of cooperation. The representatives of our legislative bodies actively cooperate, particularly within the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly. As you know, in two days Yerevan will host the session of Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. In this context, I would like to express gratitude to our Tajik partners for support to the implementation of priorities of the Armenian Chairmanship in the CSTO. I presented to Mr. Aslov efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs for the creation of relevant conditions for the resumption of negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, steps undertaken towards the implementation of arrangements reached at Summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg. In this regard, I would add that we value Tajikistan’s balanced stance in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and its support to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.
