Sargsyan met Merkel
President Serzh Sargsyan today had a meeting with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel during his official visit to the Federal Republic of Germany.
Issues related to development of bilateral relations and the realization of opportunities for cooperation in multifaceted formats were discussed.
The RA President noted that the high-level bilateral meetings promote political dialogue and provide the opportunity to deepen cooperation with Germany in all spheres. Serzh Sargsyan said that Armenia views the cooperation with Germany as an important component for European integration.
The parties touched upon the development of trade-economic relations, noting that the presence of nearly 80 German companies in Armenia serves as a good basis for expanding cooperation in the sphere of investments.
The parties also talked about the German government's financial and technical support to Armenia. The RA President said that Germany is second among the donor countries in terms of support.
President Sargsyan and Chancellor Merkel also discussed issues related to the South Caucasus. Serzh Sargsyan welcomed Germany's balanced policy in the region. Touching upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, President Sargsyan voiced concern that Azerbaijan is not repugnant to raise its overt ambitions to solve the conflict through military operations and endanger not only Armenian-Azeri talks, but stability in the region. Talking about Armenian-Turkish relations, the RA President expressed regret that the normalization of relations and the efforts of Armenia and the international community aimed at opening Europe's last closed border remained fruitless after Turkey used the process for other purposes and refused the agreed principles for negotiations.
The parties attached importance to the need of promoting the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations without preconditions and reaching a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict through talks within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.
At the end of the meeting, President Serzh Sargsyan and Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a short joint press conference.
