December 06, 2013 | 13:41

The resolution of the existing conflicts in the OSCE area continues to remain a serious challenge, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said during the OSCE Ministerial Council.

He recalled that in June the Presidents of the three Co-Chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, United States and France, issued a new, fifth consecutive statement on the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, where they once again stressed that only a negotiated settlement can lead to peace, stability, and reconciliation.

“In Armenia we welcomed this statement saying that, as the Co-Chairs, we continue to believe that the principles and elements outlined in the statements of the heads of the Co-Chair countries over the last five years can be the basis for reaching a fair and lasting settlement of the conflict. We share the position of the Co-Chair countries, that those principles and elements should be seen as an integrated whole and that any attempt to select some elements over others would make it impossible to reach a compromise and achieve a solution. We absolutely agree that peoples should be prepared for peace, not war. Armenia has on several occasions reiterated and in response to the Enniskillen appeal of the Presidents of USA, Russian Federation and France, once again re-affirmed its commitment to the principles of international law – the non-use of force or the threat of force, equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and territorial integrity,” he said.

Nalbandian stressed that to achieve a durable peace, stability and security in the region, Armenia will continue to invest its utmost efforts towards the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict exclusively through peaceful means and on the basis of the purposes, principles and norms reflected in the UN Charter and the provisions of the statements of the Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries’ Presidents in L’Aquila, Muskoka, Deauville, Los Cabos and Enniskillen.

Speaking about the recent meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders, the Foreign Minister said Armenia hopes that “Azerbaijan is really returning to the table of negotiations with a constructive approach, which could enable us to speed up efforts to reach agreement on the basic principles, about which the Co-Chairs on the highest level have made several appeals and about which the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan expressed their willingness in the last joint statement adopted in January 2012 in Sochi.”

”A constructive approach is necessary for reaching not only an agreement on the principles of the settlement, but also for the realization of the confidence-building measures, proposed by the Co-Chairs and supported by Armenia, such as consolidation of ceasefire, withdrawal of snipers from the line of contact and the establishment of a mechanism for the investigation of ceasefire violations.”

He also expressed Armenia’s readiness to support the incoming Swiss Chairmanship in the implementation of its agenda.