On December 1, Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimian received the delegation headed by George William Okoth-Obbo, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Operations.

 

Deputy Minister highlighted the importance of the visit of the delegation, noting that Armenia has a long-term experience in receiving refugees. He underlined that Armenia has made extensive efforts both in the past and at present to support the refugees and address their needs, especially with regard to integration of the Armenian refugees who immigrated from Azerbaijan in 1990s, and from Iraq and Syria afterwards.

 

Deputy Foreign Minister briefed in details on the latest developments with regard to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He touched upon the displacement of the population from the villages along the Line of Contact between Artsakh and Azerbaijan as a result of the large-scale aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh in April, 2016, emphasizing the importance of equal and non discriminative access to the humanitarian mission organisations for all those in need. He commended George William Okoth-Obbo upon his meeting with the residents of Talish village in Artsakh and learning their problems.

 

Ashot Hovakimian also stressed, that Armenia continues to support the victims of conflicts in the Middle East, including ethnic and religious minorities.

 

The high ranking UN official noted that in terms of finding solutions for the problems of refugees, they consider Armenia as a strategically important country, highly appreciating Armenia's experience in integrating refugees, especially accepting refugees from Syria in recent years and meeting their educational, social and economic needs.

  -   Press release