Dear journalists, Ladies and gentlemen, First of all I would like to congratulate you for the Christmas and wish you Happy New Year. I wish the 2011 to be a year of prosperity for you, your families and our country. Today, traditionally, our press-conference is dedicated to the summarizing of the 2010 foreign policy. Probably you are acquainted with my interview given to the Public Television at the end of the last year where in some sense the past year’s foreign policy is summarized. You can find the transcript of the mentioned interview on the web-site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In my address I will concentrate on the most important events, and you can further find more detailed information in the Annual Report issued by the Ministry which will be distributed to you. Based on the guidelines given by the President of the Republic, the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2010 were aimed at ensuring favourable external conditions for the development of the state, strengthen its image, raise the efficiency of the protection of Armenian and its citizens’ interests abroad, present Armenian approaches in the international arena, deepening the involvement in international organizations and processes, further strengthening cooperation with partner and friendly states as well as settle relations with countries, with which some problems exist. Thanks to the Armenian diplomacy’s efforts, in the process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, it became obvious that the Armenian approaches are in line with the approaches of the international community, which was reaffirmed in the five-sided joint statement during the OSCE Summit in Astana on December 1, in the Muskoka Statement by the heads of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries in the sidelines of the G8 Summit on June 26, in the Astrakhan Declaration adopted by the Presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan on 27th of October, in the statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group during the Almaty meeting of the OSCE Ministers of Foreign Affairs on 17th of July. During the year the President of the Republic visited all the permanent member-states of the UN Security Council, had meetings with the leadership of those countries. Last year was significant in terms of further strengthening the Armenian-Russian partnership and strategic relations, the culmination of which was the state visit of the President Medvedev to Armenia, negotiations with the Armenian President Sargsyan, the reached agreements and signed documents. During 2010 the Armenian-US relations reached on a qualitatively new level, which was particularly marked by President Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to Washington DC, meeting with the US President Barack Obama as well as by the US State Secretary Hillary Clinton’s visit to Yerevan. Negotiations with EU on the Association Agreement have started where an essential progress has been made. As a result of it, the cooperation between Armenia and the EU will be put on a new basis. Rapprochement with the European family continues to remain as one of the Armenian foreign policy priorities. Multidimensional cooperation with neighbouring Georgia and Iran has continued. Foundations were laid for implementation of projects of strategic importance with those countries. The policy of Armenia to normalise the Armenian-Turkish relations has been received by the international community with full understanding and support. Purposeful steps were undertaken to further develop mutually beneficial cooperation with the Asian countries, particularly with China, India and Japan. Active steps were initiated to develop relations with Arabic countries during the year. Efforts were exerted to further extend the cooperation with the countries of Latin America. Armenia has been actively involved in the cooperation within the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. Meetings of the Heads of the member-states of the Organisation took place in Yerevan and Sevan. Armenia intensively participated in the activities of the CIS and EurAsEC and in the processes occurring within those Organisations. The Individual Partnership Action Plan with NATO has been successfully implemented. Armenia has continued its participation in international peace-keeping activities. The participation in the activities of the UN and other international organizations, as well as the active involvement in the international campaign against terrorism and other challenges has continued. One of the pivotal issues of the foreign policy was the establishment of stability, cooperation, security and peace in the South Caucasus. Armenia exerted efforts to the achievement of a stable and secure region. The economic dimension of foreign policy has continued to play an important role in our agenda, both in bilateral and multilateral relations with international structures and financial institutions. As a result of continuous work in inter-governmental trade and economic committees of dozens of countries, agreements for future extensive cooperation were reached, new projects were planned. International cooperation in the fields of culture and education has continued. Armenian Foreign Ministry contributed to the activities of other Armenian state institutions in order to develop foreign relations. A big number of visits, political consultations, meetings and events took place on intergovernmental, interagency and decentralized levels, agreements were reached, around 70 international agreements were signed which could serve as a good basis for future development of the bilateral and multilateral relations. The international recognition of the Armenian Genocide was in the foreign policy agenda. On the 95th Anniversary of the Genocide events were organised in around four dozens of countries to which the Armenian diplomatic representations have shown their support. The Diplomatic school of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs started to function in 2010, which will soon have its first graduates. The Law on Diplomatic Service has been amended, the Ministry underwent structural changes. Last year Armenia opened embassies in 7 countries (Kuwait, Czech Republic, Spain, Japan, Brazil, Iraq, and the Netherlands). Activities continued to further form international public opinion on Armenia. The Armenian President and Foreign Minister made speeches in leading think tanks, had interviews to eminent international mass media outlets. The President of the Republic had 22 foreign visits, Armenia has been visited by 6 heads of other countries. President of the National Assembly made 9 visits abroad. Prime-minister made 8 foreign visits. 3 Heads of Foreign Governments, 14 Foreign Ministers, 5 Heads of International organisations visited Armenia. Armenian Foreign Minister made 24 visits. Thanks to the active and initiating foreign policy on the international arena Armenia continued the strengthening of its position as a predictable and trustful partner. Let me once again congratulate you on the occasion of the holidays and wish effective cooperation in the upcoming 2011. 14.01.201

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