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Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian was on an official visit to Finland to meet with Deputy Prime and Foreign Minister, Timo Soini on May 2, reports press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia.

According to the statement of the Foreign Minister of Armenia during the joint press conference with the Foreign Minister of Finland, the sides agreed to intensify high-level visits, activate political consultations between the two Foreign Ministries, enhance interaction within the international organisations, encourage parliamentarians to boost their contacts and cooperation within parliamentary assemblies, expand the legal framework of bilateral relations.

During the negotiations, they touched upon the deepening of economic cooperation, enhancement of cultural exchanges.

The Foreign Ministers have exchanged views on the elaboration of a new legal basis of Armenia-EU relations. Edward Nalbandian emphasized once again that Armenia is interested in further strengthening mutually beneficial partnership with the EU.

Edward Nalbandian also informed his colleague that: “despite the numerous appeals of the three Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and the international community to fully respect the trilateral ceasefire agreements of 1994 and 1995, Azerbaijan has continued their violations, concentrating heavy weaponry and military forces along the entire Line of Contact with Nagorno-Karabakh, further increasing its warmongering and launching a provocative propaganda campaign on international arena trying to accuse the Armenian side in exactly what it is itself doing, thus preparing ground for new military attacks which can have far-reaching consequences for the whole region”.

“We are sharing the view with the international community that there is no alternative to the exclusively peaceful negotiated settlement of this issue,” Nalbandian said.

According to Edward Nalbandian, immense efforts will be needed to restore the negotiation environment. First of all, he stated that it is imperative to implement the proposal of the three Co-Chair countries, supported by the international community to create a mechanism of investigation of the ceasefire regime violations, and to secure and guarantee the unconditional implementation of ceasefire agreements of 1994 and 1995.

In this respect, Timon Soini emphasized that Finland fully supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to provide appropriate negotiation environment. The Foreign Minister of Finland added that Nagorno Karabakh conflict can only be settled through peaceful negotiations.

The Foreign Ministers also discussed a number of international and regional topics, including situation in the Middle East, migration crisis, fight against terrorism, etc.

At the end of the meeting, Edward Nalbandian invited Minister Soini to Armenia.