On November 3 Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met the UK Minister for Europe David Lidington who paid an official visit to Yerevan.
Welcoming the guest, Minister Nalbandian said: “Armenia attaches great importance to the development of the relations with the United Kingdom in the bilateral and multilateral formats. I should mention with satisfaction that during the last years we have seen an activation in the political contacts and I believe that trend will be continuous.”
Expressing gratitude for the warm reception, Minister Lidington stated that the United Kingdom considers Armenia as an important partner and the purpose and message of his visit to Armenia is to give new impetus to cooperation with Armenia.
During the negotiations the Мinisters discussed the ways to deepen the cooperation in political, trade,economic and other areas.
In that context, Edward Nalbandian noted the visible growth of the interest of British business to develop trade and economic ties with Armenia in recent period.
The sides shared the view that the improvement and strengthening of the legal basis as well as the effective use of more than a dozen signed documents play an important role in the development of the relations.
The Ministers stressed that an inter-parliamentary cooperation, which is quite active, has its unique place in the development of bilateral relations.
Edward Nalbandian and David Lidington touched upon the issues related to the bilateral cooperation within the framework of the international organizations.
Minister Nalbandian presented to David Lidington in details the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries towards the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue as well as the results of the Paris summit which was held a week ago. In that context the Minister for Europe of the United Kingdom noted that his country supports the conflict settlement negotiation process in the frameworks of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs.
The agenda of negotiations included a number of issues, in particular, the developments in Syria and Iraq and in the Middle East in general, the negotiation process around Iran’s nuclear issue.
The meeting of the Ministers was followed by a joint press conference.
The questions and answers of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandyan are presented below.
Question. Mister Nalbandian, I would like You to comment on the recent conclusion of the UN expert report, according to which it will be impossible to reach the resolution of many conflicts, if the right of peoples to self-determination is ignored.
Answer. We have always mentioned and stressed, that the implementation of the right of self-determination does not cause the emergence of different conflicts, and just the reverse, the hindering, refusal of the exercise of the right of self-determination creates a respective fertile ground for the conflicts. The report mentioned by You speaks just about that.
We have always said and say, that the implementation of the right to self-determination can be preventive for new conflicts and can promote the settlement, preservation and strengthening of regional, international peace. This report speaks exactly about it.
We have always said and say, that the implementation of the right to self-determination can promote the strengthening of democracy and human rights defense. This report speaks exactly about it.
The international system today including the 193 UN member-states is a result of the implementation of the right to self-determination. How many countries existed at the times of the foundation of the UN? Fifty-one! That number has nearly quadrupled. To confront, ignore the right to self-determination is equivalent to opposing evolution.
We can unequivocally mention, that this important, valuable report once again affirms the approaches that Armenia had and has towards this issue, and not only Armenia, but also several other countries and institutions of the international community.
It is impossible for any country and society, where democracy and human rights are protected, to resist the right to self-determination. The last example is in the United Kingdom, where Scotland held a referendum.
This is the reality in the international arena. Ignoring the right to self-determination has created new reasons for new issues, new problems, new conflicts.
Question, Mr. Nalbandian, during the recent days many accusations were sounded by Baku authorities towards Armenia, through those accusations trying to attribute the authoritarian manners of Azerbaijan to Armenia. What do you think, what is its purpose?
Answer: Independent of the purpose it pursues, I do not think that it could make an impression on anyone outside of Azerbaijan. And even inside Azerbaijan that can impress very few people. Criticism on such a topic by a county, which is characterized by the most authoritative international structures as an autocracy with the most glaring and gross violations of human rights, actually looks like an empty talk.
Could you imagine such accusation deriving from Gaddafi’s Libya or Saddam Hussein’s Iraq? Whom could they impress?
Photo by mfa.am.
