US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian have discussed a wide range of issues in Washington.
Hillary Clinton warmly welcomed her Armenian counterpart in remarks for the press at the start of their meeting on Thursday.
“Foreign Minister Nalbandian and I have met many times and it is once again a delight to welcome him to the State Department. The United States and Armenia have many connections and relationships that span politics and go into family and so much else that is very important to us. And we have many, many important issues ahead of us, and I look forward to continuing the important conversation that we’ve been carrying out,” Secretary Clinton said, according to the State Department website
Edward Nalbandian noted that “the frequency of our meetings proves our commitment to deepen and to strengthen Armenian-American relations”.
“Due to our joint efforts, we elevated our relationship to a qualitatively new level during the last years, and I would like to thank you very much, Madam Secretary, for your contribution, for your efforts, for your engagement. I am sure that this meeting will be another occasion to enhance our friendly partnership between United States and Armenia. Thank you again," Nalbandian said.
Hillary Clinton stressed during the meeting that a peaceful resolution was the only way to end the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian Foreign Ministry press service reported, according to Novosti-Armenia.
The United States is a co-chair, alongside Russia and France, of the OSCE Minsk Group, which is seeking to mediate a solution to the Karabakh conflict.
The deputy secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, Philip Gordon, said on Wednesday that the US administration believed the time had come to finalize and endorse what are known as the Basic Principles for a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and move to draft a peace deal.
This was presumably discussed by Hillary Clinton and Edward Nalbandian, but has not been mentioned in reports on their talks.
Nalbandian and Clinton discussed a wide range of issues, including the development and expansion of economic cooperation, democratic reforms in Armenia and regional questions, according to the Armenian Foreign Ministry.
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