At the invitation of the Latvian chairmanship of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimyan addressed the Forum’s plenary session. 

The Deputy FM presented Armenia’s approach toward the OSCE regional security issues and reflected on the cooperation between the OSCE Yerevan Office and Armenia’s Defense Ministry, and, in this context, on the programs toward strengthening democratic governance in Armenia’s Armed Forces.

Hovakimyan also spoke about Armenia’s position toward settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Specifically, he stressed the fact that this position is consistent with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries’ L’Aquila, Muskoka, Deauville, and Los Cabos statements.  

And reflecting on the growth of the intensiveness of Azerbaijan’s provocations at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the Karabakh-Azerbaijani line of contact, Armenia’s Deputy FM underscored the need to pull back the snipers and create a mechanism for investigating the ceasefire violations. 

In his turn, the EU representative expressed a support to the Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ efforts toward a peaceful resolution to the Karabakh problem, reaffirmed the importance of implementing mechanisms toward studying the incidents at the line of contact, and welcomed the activities of the OSCE Yerevan Office. 

And the delegates from US, Russia and Ireland reaffirmed their stance that the Karabakh issue needs to be solved solely by way of pacific methods.