Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during talks with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan, Moscow, March 20, 2023

Mr Mirzoyan,

Friends,

We are glad to welcome you to our regular meeting. We have always valued our friendly relations with the Republic of Armenia. Not so long ago, we saw each other in New Delhi on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue International Conference. We talked and walked, but it was fairly substantive. We agreed to hold more in-depth talks at our next full-scale meeting.

We note the continuing frequent political dialogue between our leaders, including within the framework of EAEU, CSTO and CIS events. The Supreme Eurasian Economic Council will hold a meeting in Moscow in May. Our two ministries, jointly with the economic ministries, will contribute to the preparations. 

As of now, we are the leading trade partner and investor in Armenia’s economy. Last year set a record, with trade almost doubling to about $5 billion (for the time being, we still calculate in dollars, but it is temporary). All of this has helped your country to ensure record high GDP growth of more than 12.5 percent and a surge in business activity.  Russian companies are also leading in job creation and generating revenue for the Armenian budget. The Intergovernmental Commission co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk and Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan has been making strides.   

We are interested in consolidating the integrated education, science and language space that we share. We are ready to work with you on creating and promoting humanitarian ties and contacts between our regions.

An important topic at our talks today is cooperation in the Eurasian space, the CSTO, the CIS and the EAEU space, as well as interaction at multilateral venues, including the UN and the OSCE.

We will also focus on international security issues, including the Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process, which is one of our priorities.  There is no doubt that the trilateral statements by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia of November 9, 2020, January 11, 2021, November 26, 2021, and October 31, 2022 remain the key to implementing all decisions intended to stabilise the situation in the economic and military-political spheres, and in terms of international law. 

We will be ready, as the trilateral statements declare, to render any and all assistance to unblocking transport routes, delimiting the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, and coordinating the parameters of the prospective peace treaty. We have a packed agenda.