At the initiative of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the negotiations between RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev started in Vienna.

The talks will be attended by the Foreign Ministers of the two countries, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov, OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov (Russia), Andrew Schofer (USA), Stephane Visconti (France) and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.

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Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan who is in Vienna on a working visit today met with Austria’s Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen.

Welcoming the Prime Minister of Armenia, the Austrian President said his country keen to continuously develop and expand multifaceted relationship with Armenia. Alexander Van der Bellen complimented Nikol Pashinyan on the ongoing reform process in Armenia and expressed confidence that our country will abide by the path of democratic development and consolidation over the coming years. With reference to bilateral economic cooperation, the President of Austria assured that his country is prepared to discuss possibilities of implementing investment programs in Armenia.

Thankful for the warm welcome, Prime Minister Pashinyan said that the Armenian government is interested in deepening interaction with Austria. Nikol Pashinyan touched upon the democratic developments in Armenia, the fight against corruption and monopolies, the protection of human rights and the judiciary reform. The Premier expressed confidence that in close cooperation with its international partners, the Government of Armenia will successfully implement the ongoing and planned reforms.

The interlocutors discussed a broad range of issues concerning the Armenian-Austrian relations. They took the opportunity to exchange views over other topics of mutual interest.

Prime Minister Pashinyan briefed the Austrian President on the outcome of his meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Vienna.

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On the initiative of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev held talks in Vienna.

The meeting started with the participation of Foreign Ministers of the two countries Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov, as well as OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov (Russia), Andrew Schofer (USA), Stephane Visconti (France) and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.

Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev continued the discussion on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue during a private talk. At the end of the meeting, the Co-Chairs and the Foreign Ministers again joined the leaders of the two countries.

The meeting went off in an atmosphere of constructive dialogue. Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev referred to the agreements reached in Dushanbe, highlighting the steps aimed at strengthening the regime of ceasefire and improving the mechanisms of direct communication.

The parties stressed the importance of shaping an atmosphere conducive to peace and taking tangible steps to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. An arrangement was reached to implement a series of humanitarian activities.

The two country leaders agreed to continue the dialogue and instructed their respective foreign ministers to meet with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to that end.

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Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan who is in Austria on a working visit today met with Armenian community representatives in Vienna. The Prime Minister was welcomed with a cordial and festive applause.

To begin with, the Premier pointed out that the contacts with Armenian community representatives held during his working and official visits are among the most anticipated events for him.

“The changes taking place in Armenia are characterized by an atmosphere of love and cohesion. It is important to record the current status of the Republic of Armenia. Today Armenia is a truly democratic state where people have real power. It is a great honor for me to be in this position not because I am Prime Minister, but exclusively because I feel that I am the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia just because the people has wished so. This is what matters most to me.

We used to discuss the issue of government’s legitimacy, and today I feel the importance of that assertion in my work, in international relations. There is no doubt that the recent changes, the popular revolution will bring us real economic and political victories.

The most important victory has already taken place. It is the reinstatement of people’s power in the Republic of Armenia. The emerging economic indicators, the estimates that the international organizations are making about our economic development evidence that we will succeed together in the process of economic revolution. But what matters most is the change in people’s eyes; the revolution that is reflected in our eyes.

Today we can witness mutual trust and love, mutual respect and, of course, willingness to be together with each other, take responsibility for the future of our homeland,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

Then the Prime Minister touched upon the outcome of his talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Vienna.

“I understand that our meeting is today’s highlight. I positively assess our meeting with President Aliyev. I cannot say that there has been a breakthrough in the negotiation process, a revolution, a turning point or event, but it is important that a process has started, which allows us to speak about our agenda, ideas, concerns and talk about the process I referred to in Stepanakert and later on during my press conference.

I hope that either President Aliyev will make a positive assessment of the meeting. Here, I would like to touch upon a nuance. By saying that I positively assess the outcome of our meeting, I do not mean that someone has won or lost at all. As a matter of fact, meetings used to be held in that very logic until now. The point in today’s talks was not to go out and declare about one’s victory. This was just the case during discussions in Dushanbe, Saint Petersburg, and Davos.

A dialogue is underway, and each side has its own ideas. The conflict is deeply rooted, and we need to state that we do not deal with a simple situation. This is a very serious problem, and I find it important to shape an atmosphere where we can voice and talk about each other’s concerns. We should have the understanding that there is nothing harmful in talking to each other. The point is whether we can stabilize the situation at the line of contact, whether we can ensure that people in the border villages may live a normal life without any fear that snipers can kill them in the exercise of farming activities. We must understand whether we can reflect on humanitarian aspects.

There are civilians living on both sides, and we should understand whether we can try to organize meetings between individual families so that people could communicate with one another, or whether we can task our foreign ministers to follow up on the talks in order to understand the point of the problem. But it is also clear that each side has its own position in which they are deeply convinced. Nevertheless, we can also try to speak about the opponent’s position in order to understand the rationale behind the opposite position.

In this sense, I consider this meeting quite positive. Frankly speaking, I still do not know President Aliyev’s opinion of the talks, but I do hope that at least there will be no visible discrepancies in our assessments,” Pashinyan said.

In conclusion, Nikol Pashinyan answered several questions of interest to the Armenian community in Vienna.

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Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today met with Austria’s Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Vienna.

The parties discussed a number of issues related to cooperation in both bilateral and multilateral formats. Nikol Pashinyan and Sebastian Kurz noted the importance of developing multifaceted relations, including the political and economic components. They deemed it necessary for the two governments to uphold the ongoing active dialogue in order to give fresh impetus to economic cooperation and boost trade turnover.

Welcoming the democratic developments taking place in Armenia, Sebastian Kurz assured of his government’s readiness to assist Armenia with the implementation of its ambitious reform program. In this context, both sides stressed the importance of implementing the programs envisaged in the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and the soonest possible ratification of CEPA by EU-member States.

The interlocutors took the opportunity to talk about the Vienna meeting between the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan.