42nd meeting of Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the BSEC Organization

27 November, 2020

Armenia’s Delegation headed by the Mr. Arman Khachartryan, Head of the MFA Department of Multilateral Policy and Development Cooperation, participated in the 42nd meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) - held online on 27 November 2020. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Bogdan Aurescu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania, in the capacity of the incumbent Romanian Chairmanship-in-Office of the BSEC Organization.

Expressing his appreciation to the Romanian side for successful stewardship of the chairmanship in the Organization through the challenging times, in his statement Arman Khachatryan presented Armenia’s views regarding the important issues on the agenda and noted that the Organization was able to find a solution for the current rotation cycle of the chairmanship.

He stressed that Armenia’s Government proactively responded to the crisis caused by the pandemic adopting widespread containment measures and supporting the most affected sectors of the economy and vulnerable social groups, and initiated the development of over 30 sectoral strategies, as well as the comprehensive Armenia Transformation Strategy 2020-2050 emphasizing the importance of the need to expedite sectoral economic reforms.

Khachatryan further stressed that national efforts alone, however, are not sufficient as they must be complemented by efforts at international and regional levels utilizing the BSEC platform to advance the regional cooperation to mitigate the crisis and prepare for future risks.

He continued that while the international community focused on the recovery from the COVID-19, Azerbaijan with Turkey’s direct support and recruiting foreign mercenaries and terrorists launched a pre-planned, large-scale military aggression against Artsakh committing heinous crimes not only against the prisoners of war, but against civilians, their peaceful settlements and infrastructures. Stressing that the ceasefire in place established after the joint statement signed by Armenia, Russian Federation and Azerbaijan on November 9th is not a final settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, A. Khachatryan reiterated Armenia’s commitment to achieving peaceful, lasting and sustainable resolution of the conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship to ensure an appropriate status for the people of Artsakh in their ancestral lands in line with their right to self-determination.

Referring to the imposition of the blockade against landlocked Armenia by its two neighbors as a gross violation of the international law, he underlined the importance of unfettered, efficient and cost-effective access to and from the sea, on the basis of the freedom of transit and movement, as well as development of regional connectivity and sustainable transport systems, which became more vital at the time of the pandemic. He emphasized that disputes or conflicts should be solved through peaceful means and that regional economic cooperation can contribute to enhancing peace, stability, prosperity and well-being of people, as stipulated in the BSEC Charter.

At the conclusion of the meeting, a ceremony took place whereby the Romania handed over the Chairmanship-in-Office of BSEC to Albania, which will assume the duties of BSEC Chairmanship for a period of six months, from 1 January to 30 June 2021.

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