Meeting with President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan

OREANDA-NEWS. At the beginning of their meeting, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan told Dmitry Medvedev about the latest developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, and expressed hope for the Minsk Group co-chair countries to mediate the normalisation of the situation. He expressed regret with the exacerbation of the situation in the region forced him to cancel the scheduled meeting of the EAEU Eurasian Intergovernmental Council.

Dmitry Medvedev’s statement during the meeting:

We have a good opportunity now to exchange opinions and information on our routine bilateral matters. I want to inform you that we have held all the talks, discussed the entire range of issues pertaining to our countries’ economic cooperation, signed some documents concerning our future that I believe are very important, and have agreed on various issues, particularly such critical, complex and controversial ones as gas price formation, which I think is essential for Armenia’s sustainable development. The two of us will probably have a brief discussion on some of the matters.

It is no secret that this official and mutually coordinated visit falls on an extremely difficult time. Nevertheless, we have not changed our schedule. We think it’s our duty as Armenia’s partners to obtain firsthand information, take stock of the situation, and do everything we can as partners, allies and Minsk Group members to turn the developments into a peaceful channel.

We firmly believe that what matters most now is to preserve peace and to return to the negotiating table, despite the fact that the situation is hardly favourable for such talks, to put it mildly. I remember our previous conversations very well. Although we may have missed certain opportunities, there is, at any rate, no alternative to peace talks and calm conversation. That is what my present visit is about. I would like to discuss with you some of the steps we can take in the near future.

As for the postponed meeting of the Eurasian Economic Union’s Council of Heads of Government, I am confident that we will not have a long break. I will certainly talk to our partners in the Eurasian Economic Union. Their conduct and decision can be understood, to an extent, because not everyone is well informed about the current developments and about what can and will follow. What matters most now is not to let the pace slacken and not to whip up artificial problems. That is why when we were discussing the future of integration cooperation today, we came to an understanding that we will try to convene the Council of Heads of Government in Yerevan as soon as possible, just as we intended because, to be honest, we do not meet frequently enough. We have not met for six months now although we had agreed to come together every two months. So I would like to make our regular meetings more frequent, all the more so due to a feeling of frustration with the postponement of the meeting that was due here on the 8th [of April].

At any rate, I am very grateful for your invitation. We found today’s intergovernmental talks to be of great interest, and I hope we will discuss our entire agenda now.

SerzhSargsyan: Thank you.