President Serzh Sargsyan receives US Assistant Secretary Victoria Nuland

President Serzh Sargsyan today received Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State.

The President welcomed the dignitary to our country and expressed the hope that Mrs. Nuland’s visit to Armenia would give a breath of fresh air to the high-level dialogue between Armenia and the United States. According to the President, such visits provide a good opportunity to discuss issues pertaining to both the bilateral agenda and the regional situation and jointly tackle present issues.

The President expressed the hope that Richard Mills, the newly-appointed US Ambassador to Armenia, with whom he had met recently, would continue in the same vein as his predecessor John Heffern, thereby making a major contribution to the advancement of the friendly relationship between Armenia and the Unites States.

Serzh Sargsyan stressed that Armenia attached great value to the role of the United States aimed at maintenance of security and stability in our region, especially to its active engagement in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process as an OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair country.

The President expressed his thanks to the government of the friendly state of the Unites States of America for supporting Armenia since independence.

Victoria Nuland expressed satisfaction with her meetings with Armenian government officials and civil society representatives. She underscored that the United States was ready to discuss further opportunities of supporting Armenia. Mrs. Nuland noted that her country was keen on helping Armenia in the areas of economic development, reforms, strengthening of democracy and civil society and highlighted the positive achievements of Armenia in the given areas. The US assistant secretary thanked Armenia for its active engagement in concerted international efforts to maintain peace and security, particularly in peace-keeping missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the concerns regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and discussed opportunities of effectively proceeding with negotiations aimed at establishment of peace and stability in the region.

At the meeting, the sides also reflected upon current international and regional problems and challenges, pressing issues of Armenia’s domestic and foreign policy, as well as upon the events to be held in Armenia and abroad to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.