The statement of President Serzh Sargsyan at the joint press Conference with the President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman

Your Excellency Mr. President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to pay my first state visit to the Czech Republic at the invitation of the President of the Czech Republic.

We just held substantive and productive talks with President Zeman in the atmosphere of complete mutual understanding. We discussed both issues of our bilateral agenda as well as current regional and international topics.

We noted with satisfaction that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries we have registered prominent progress in interstate affairs. A dozen of documents on different fields signed today and to be signed tomorrow attest to it. We outlined healthcare, environment, decentralized collaboration, trade, economic and cultural cooperation as the areas of prospective cooperation. We stressed the necessity of widening business connections and stimulating investments, promoting people-to-people contacts and developing tourism. The direct flights under operation between our capitals serve as an important prerequisite for that. We attached importance to the ongoing Armenian-Czech business forum within the current visit.

We mutually highlighted the importance of the inter-parliamentary cooperation supported by the friendship groups established within the two parliaments.

We underlined the necessity of consistent development of cultural, educational and scientific ties. This year Yerevan and in 2015 Prague will respectively host Days of Czech and Armenian cultures. Mr. President proposed us to more actively encourage our youth to study in the Czech Republic, and I am surely grateful for that.

We reaffirmed the mutual will to deepen cooperation between our states within the framework of such international platforms as the UN institutions, OSCE, Council of Europe as well as the EU Eastern Partnership.

Prague stands high on Armenia’s European agenda, which is a priority in our foreign policy. About five years ago it was precisely in Prague, where Armenia undertook a commitment to enhance closer cooperation with the EU upon the start of the Eastern Partnership. This commitment was reaffirmed at the Vilnius summit last November. We are determined to continuously enhance and expand our relations with the EU. In this respect, we expect the support of friendly nations, especially the Czech comprehensive support.

We are convinced that different integration processes may certainly be developed based on compatibility and cooperation rather than controversy. In this sense the Eastern Partnership might serve as a natural bridge fostering economic integration from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. We are committed to make consistent efforts toward constructing more inclusive Europe, free from dividing lines. I am thankful to Mr. President for his understanding toward our decision to join the Customs Union. I am also thankful to the President of the Czech Republic for the invitation to the Eastern Partnership Summit that will take place on April 24, in Prague and I am particularly thankful for appreciating my visit to Prague on the 24th of April, bearing in mind that on the 24th of April Armenians across the world pay their tribute to the victims of the Genocide.

We highly appreciate the constructive position of the Czech Republic in support to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk group co-chairs to find a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In November 2013, after a two-year interval the meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan took place in Vienna, which by itself is a positive step in the negotiation process. The direct contacts on the presidential level are important stimulus to the ongoing negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group, which is the only format of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution. The principles and provisions embedded in the Presidents’ statements of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries – Russia, the USA and France – provide appropriate ground for the just and enduring settlement of the conflict. We share the stance of the co-chair countries that those principles and provisions should be viewed as a whole and the attempts to prioritize one over the other will make consensus and conflict settlement impossible.

Nevertheless, the settlement of the problem is not realistic unless Azerbaijan abandons the malicious policy of bellicose propaganda, incitement of arms race and provocative actions along the line of contact. It’s high time for Azerbaijan to adopt a constructive stance on the exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict. Here let me make a very important emphasis, Mr. President: we expect from the international community to show impartial approach or at least to be guided by the principle of not harming the process.

I completely shared the view of President Zeman that the regional conflicts shall be resolved through exclusively peaceful means and negotiations.

I assess our meeting as productive and hope that the Armenian-Czech dialogue and cooperation will develop and widen in different fields by mutual efforts and based on already existing grounds.

I thanked President Zeman for warm hospitality and invited him to pay a state visit to Armenia and I am thankful that he was pleased to accept the invitation.

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