President held meetings with UN Regional Office representatives

At the UN Office in Vienna, President Serzh Sargsyan held meetings with the representatives of the organization UN Deputy Secretary-General and the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Yuri Fedotov, the Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Li Yong, the Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Lassina Zerbo and the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano.

At the meeting with Yuri Fedotov, the parties underscored that the proliferation of drugs and crime is one of the most dangerous challenges of the present time and the fight against them is a priority. President Serzh Sargsyan noted that the UNODC plays an important role in coordinating close international cooperation in order to achieve results in that sphere. According to Serzh Sargsyan Armenia is actively involved in the joint struggle of the Paris Pact member countries for preventing the proliferation of drugs from Afghanistan to Europe and other places. Armenia also participates in CSTO, CIS and NATO military exercises aimed at developing a joint action plan on the fight against the proliferation of drugs.

At the meeting, promoting the cooperation with the UN Office in Vienna was also touched upon. The president stated with satisfaction that as a result of Yuri Fedotov’s visit in last October the cooperation with the Office has been intensified. The president emphasized April’s visit of the delegation led by the Head of the UNODC Regional Office to Armenia during which the delegation outlined and put forward possible cooperation frameworks for discussion with the aim of developing plans and implementing them in the future.

In addition, the interlocutors attached importance to establishing a UNODC regional office which will foster effective cooperation, will balance the Organization’s activities in the South Caucasus, as well as will help to find more rapid solutions to existing issues.

In this context, the President of Armenia underlined that despite the fact that comparing to numerous countries of the world drug addiction or its trafficking has not been a primary concern for Armenia, the relevant bodies do their best to control the proliferation of drugs, prevent their illegal trafficking and establishing adequate sanctions.

At the meeting with the Director-General of the UNIDO Li Yong President Serzh Sargsyan mentioned that Armenia places great importance on the mission carried out by that organization and highly appreciates its contribution to reducing global world poverty and ensuring stable economic growth. At the meeting, the interlocutors discussed the current course of Armenia’s cooperation with the UNIDO and the upcoming actions.

At the meeting, the upcoming visit of UNIDO Director-General Li Yong at the beginning of 2015 to Armenia was also touched upon. In that context, it was emphasized that the volume of technical assistance programs implemented by the UNIDO in Armenia over the recent years has been increased and the intensification of dialogue will raise the effectiveness of the existing programs and will expand the collaboration spheres. Serzh Sargsyan welcomed the fact that the UNIDO Director-General is ready to take part in an international investment forum to be held in Yerevan during that time.

Serzh Sargsyan underscored that Armenia highly appreciates the continuous assistance the UNIDO renders to Armenia, as well as the further enlargement of cooperation programs.

At the meeting with the Executive Secretary of the CTBTO Lassina Zerbo, the president first of all congratulated Lassina Zerbo on assuming the position of Executive Secretary and wished him effective activities.

Serzh Sargsyan stressed that as a member state Armenia reaffirms its commitment to push forward toward the common goals of nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. According to the president, Armenia actively cooperates with the CTBTO by participating in a number of events organized by the Commission. In that context, the further promotion of bilateral relations and the works aimed at enhancing cooperation were emphasized.

At the meeting with Yukiya Amano the president underlined that our country attaches great importance to cooperating with the IAEA considering it the important component of nuclear and energy security. The president assured that nuclear energy is of vital importance for Armenia’s energy independence and Armenia will continue to closely cooperate with the IAEA with regard to all nuclear energy issues, including the security of the currently operating Armenian nuclear power plant and its decommissioning, as well as the construction of a new energy block and its exploitation.

The interlocutors also discussed the Armenia-IAEA bilateral cooperation and issues regarding the exploitation of the current atomic energy block, the new atomic energy block and other cooperation spheres. The parties praised the present Armenia-IAEA cooperation level and underscored that they are committed to making efforts at reinforcing and enhancing it.