Rio+20 summit on sustainable development and ecology kicked off on Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro. The summit brought together delegations from 192 countries and representatives of international agencies.

In his speech, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian touched upon Armenia’s activities on sustainable development and ecology.

He spoke about factors hampering regional development, in particular, blockade carried out with a violation of international law, actions on unleashing arms race, purchase of weapons at the expense of natural resources.

The Minister stressed that Armenia had an active participation in the 1992 summit and in the next 20 years spared no effort to implement obligations envisaged by the Declaration adopted during the first summit. In 1994 the concept and implementation of the Sustainable Development were included by Armenia in student programs.

In 2002 the Armenian government founded National Council on Sustainable Development, and then Coordination Council on Sustainable Development Program.

In 2011 National Coordination Committee was set to prepare the report on Armenia for Rio+20 summit.

Armenia has joined 22 declarations on nature protection and is actively cooperating with international agencies.

“Arms race not only poses threat to peace and security but also sustainable development. Unfortunately, our region also faces the danger. We are witnessing unprecedented military build-up by Azerbaijan. Militarist rhetoric of the leadership poses a real threat to regional security, stability and development,” Nalbandian said.

Armenia was among the states elected the vice chairman of Rio+20 summit.