STEPANAKERT. – On the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of the Foreign Ministry of Artsakh, a meeting of the staff of the central office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic took place on Thursday.

NKR Foreign Minister Karen Mirzoyan congratulated the staff and noted that for the past years, Karabakh diplomatic service had not only reinstated itself, but also achieved considerable progress in the implementation of the tasks set by the leadership of the Republic with the aim of defending the interests of the country and its citizens. At the same time, political developments in the world and new challenges require a great deal of devotion, responsibility and creativity from the Karabakh diplomats.

In his speech, Karen Mirzoyan also touched upon a series of key issues on the foreign policy agenda.

On the issue of peaceful settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, the Foreign Minister assured that the NKR MFA would continue doing its utmost to prevent any probability of threats to the security of the NKR and its citizens and achieve a final settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Karabakh exclusively by peaceful means.

The Head of the Foreign Ministry expressed confidence that the final settlement of the conflict is possible only on the basis of the results of the free and legitimate expression of the will of the people of Artsakh at the independence referendum in 1991 and at the constitutional referendum in 2006 as well as realities on the ground, and noted that the authorities and people of the NKR were united in their vision of the ways of the settlement of the conflict.

Karen Mirzoyan also touched upon the process of international recognition of the NKR. He emphasized that the NKR MFA would continue carrying on activities aimed at strengthening and developing the existing positive trends, stemming, first of all, from Artsakh’s achievements on building an independent democratic statehood.

During the meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs handed certificates of award to a number of employees of the Ministry.