On May 22, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan, met with the Minister of European Affairs of the United Kingdom, Leo Docherty. The meeting was followed by a joint press conference of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and the Minister of European Affairs of the UK. Below is RA Foreign Minister Mirzoyan's statement to the press and the answer to the journalist's question.

"Dear Minister, I am happy to welcome you to Armenia. Your visit is an excellent opportunity to reflect on the Armenian-British bilateral agenda and discuss our joint steps to enrich it. We value the established cooperation between Armenia and the United Kingdom. We are hopeful that we will be able to give new energy to our bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest through joint efforts. We highlight the start of the announced strategic dialogue between Armenia and the United Kingdom. We hope this will also be reflected in our interaction on multilateral platforms.

Dear colleagues and Minister Docherty, we have expressed our willingness to take practical steps to fully realize the existing potential in the economic, scientific, and cultural spheres. Despite a certain increase in the volume of trade turnover, we aim to record even greater positive dynamics during the next meetings.

We also emphasized strengthening the legal and contractual basis of the relations between Armenia and the United Kingdom, particularly regarding signing the Comprehensive and Extended Partnership Agreement. Mutual high-level visits will be a stimulus in this direction as well.

With Mr. Docherty, we also discussed Armenia's ambitious reform agenda aimed at strengthening democratic institutions and the rule of law, protecting human rights, fighting corruption, and ensuring effective governance. In this context, we value the United Kingdom's continued support for Armenia's democratic reforms.

I would like to especially welcome the active dialogue between our parliaments and especially parliamentary friendly groups, which is also an essential platform for communication on issues of mutual interest.

Dear attendees, naturally, the core of our discussions today were the developments related to the security and stability of our region. I have presented to my colleague the latest developments in the process of regulating Armenia-Azerbaijan relations.

I mentioned that along with the process, Azerbaijan's illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor continues. During the discussion with my colleague, I emphasized that blocking the corridor has caused severe humanitarian problems in Nagorno-Karabakh, including obstacles to the regular operation of the Red Cross, the only international organization with access to Nagorno-Karabakh. This blockade is part of the policy of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Once again, I emphasized the importance of the constructive involvement of the UN member states with an international security mandate, including the United Kingdom, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and taking active steps. In this context, I stressed the need to send an international mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachine Corridor to ensure unimpeded access to international humanitarian organizations.

We also value our international partners' support in solving such a humanitarian issue as ensuring the return of all Armenian prisoners of war by Azerbaijan.

Despite the negotiation process, Azerbaijan also continues the occupation of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia and provocative actions, which contradict the statements made as a result of the Prague and Sochi meetings. In this context, I want to remind you that the Alma-Ata Declaration plays a fundamental role, and the Armenian side remains faithful.

I reaffirmed to my colleague that the Republic of Armenia is ready to implement 2020 the re-opening and re-operation of the transport infrastructures provided for by point 9 of the tripartite declaration of November 9 and the tripartite declaration of January 11, based on the principles of sovereignty, jurisdiction, equality and reciprocity of the parties.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that for a comprehensive and long-term settlement in the region, the commitment to solving all problems without the use of force or the threat of power, the implementation of the demarcation process based on the mutual recognition of territorial integrity, the imperative to solve the problems of a humanitarian nature as soon as possible, as well as under the internationally guaranteed dialogue mechanism of Nagorno Karabakh is critical. I was addressing people's rights and security issues.

Mr. Dockerty, thank you once again for today's discussions, and I pass the floor to you with love."

- How do you rate it? And after the negotiations, in particular, Mr. Lavrov announced that there is progress, especially in the matter of unblocking communications. Please elaborate 

what does that mean? Is it about roads, is it about railways? What can be expected in this matter? Thank you.

- Ararat Mirzoyan: Very well; thank you for the question. First, I emphasize Armenia's commitment and determination to build a long-lasting, stable, dignified peace in the South Caucasus. We are very constructively involved in the negotiations with just such a vision of peace. Of course, Armenia cannot take constructive steps alone. These steps must be reciprocal and, in the case of reciprocity, can indeed be the basis of lasting peace. Returning to the question, I would make a minor correction with your permission. I would evaluate or summarize not only the negotiations that took place in Moscow but also all the recent meetings. You know, there were intense sessions, starting with the four-day negotiations in Washington with the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan and his delegation—the sessions held at the level of the countries leaders in Brussels and then Moscow. I want to say that in Washington, in particular, some progress was made in the sense that it was possible to agree on two more articles of the draft peace treaty. Still, having a straightforward, long, and honest conversation about several other reports was possible. And during that conversation, the parties understand each other's concerns much better, as well as each other's intentions and ideas in general. I am saying this to show that I think about several pieces besides the two articles I mentioned. I hope this is not just my assessment; at least I was assured by the other parties that there is a possibility of reaching an agreement. Of course, there are articles and topics where the parties' positions are still quite far from each other. These articles are understandably related to the most challenging issues, but there was also quite a practical discussion in this direction. It is fundamental for Armenia, as in the past, I have also said myself publicly, to have certainty and define the border demarcation process.

You also mentioned the issue of unblocking the infrastructure. Indeed, according to many, this is the issue where the parties are closest to a final settlement. My position, our position, has stayed the same. A little while ago, literally minutes ago, I again, by and large, voiced that position. We are ready, and we are interested in the unblocking of communications in the region. This unblocking should occur based on the principles of the parties' sovereignty, jurisdiction, equality, and reciprocity. We are interested in unblocking these communications, and we believe that steps should be taken so that these supposedly unblockable infrastructures have both bilateral and international appeal. You know, these days, the world is revising, restarting, or establishing various logistics communication projects from scratch, and Armenia is interested in being a part of such projects. There are other issues where discussions with the whole spectrum are ongoing. In general, I presented in which direction we have reached where. Thank you.