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“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs implemented 6 programs in 2021, for which 17.1 billion AMD was allocated from the RA state budget, the performance was 98.1%. Expenditures on programs implemented under the responsibility of the Ministry increased by 1.4% or 240 million AMD compared to the previous year,” the RA Minister of Finance Tigran Khachatryan noted, referring to the performance indicators of allocations of foreign sphere of the previous year.

The annual report on the RA State Budget Execution for 2021 was discussed at the joint sitting of the Standing Committees on Foreign Relations and on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs convened on June 6.

The allocations for the program Organization of the Activities of the Bodies of the Diplomatic Service of Armenia in Foreign States amounted to about 11.9 billion AMD. The performance was 97.8%. 2.2 billion AMD was directed to the program Cooperation with International Organizations.

According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan, in 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs carried out the work on the implementation of the RA foreign policy guidelines and the Government program, promotion of the reform and development agenda, strengthening the cooperation with international partners, protection of the RA state interests, strengthening of sovereignty and restoration of territorial integrity, political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, ensuring the rights and security of the people of Artsakh, overcoming the humanitarian problems caused by the 44-day war.

“Of course, the most important priority of the RA foreign policy has continued to be the security of Armenia and Artsakh, the political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and under its mandate, and obviously this has been directly reflected in the daily activities of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including all the meetings of the RA Minister of Foreign Affairs and other officials without exception,” Ararat Mirzoyan underlined.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs noted that after a break of about a year, due to the position of the interested states and the consistent work of the Armenian side, the first and the second meetings of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan took place in New York, September 2021 and then in Paris in December with the participation and mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. During the meetings, the Armenian side emphasized its position on the full restoration of the process of peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. “The need for de-escalation and settlement of humanitarian issues in the border zone was reaffirmed, as well as the inadmissibility of provocations and anti-Armenian rhetoric,” the Minister said.

Before the second meeting in Paris in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan also met in Minsk in October with the mediation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov. The next meeting in the format of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs was scheduled in Stockholm, December 1-3, within the framework of the OSCE Annual Ministerial Assembly, but the Azerbaijani side canceled the five-side meeting a few hours before the meeting.

“Before the five-side meeting, the Co-Chairs presented a clear negotiating agenda to the sides during separate meetings. It is noteworthy that a few days earlier, the Co-Chairs again clearly stated their mandate at the meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna. These factors, in parallel with the general attitude of Azerbaijan towards the Co-Chairs format and mandate, in our opinion became the main reasons for the cancellation of the Stockholm meeting. Nevertheless, during the OSCE Ministerial Conference in Stockholm, the need for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through negotiations in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs was clearly emphasized by the majority of the OSCE participating States, as well as high-ranking officials of a number of international organizations,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs underlined.