President meets with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

President Serzh Sargsyan, who has visited the United States of America to take part in the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, had a meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on September 29. The president congratulated the secretary-general upon the 70th jubilee of the organization, stressing that when Armenia joined the UN 23 years ago, it has felt supported by the organization from the very first day. Serzh Sargsyan expressed his satisfaction with the successful end of the final summit of the program “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” a few days ago, in which the UN secretary-general has played his role. Armenia’s president expressed the hope that the new comprehensive program will help raise the quality of living conditions for all people on the planet.

At the meeting, the parties touched upon the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. The president informed Ban Ki-moon about the current stage of the conflict, the present problems and especially about the tensions at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the contact line with Nagorno-Karabakh caused by the resent ceasefire violations of Azerbaijan, which he had also touched upon at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly. The UN secretary-general expressed his concern over the current tensions, stressing the need for a settlement mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

The interlocutors exchanged views on present-day international issues, and on worrisome events occurring in the world - new conflicts, increasing terrorism and extremism, the growing tensions in the Near and Middle East. Ban Ki-moon welcomed and thanked our country for the steps to provide refugees from northern Iraq and Syria with safe haven in Armenia. The UN secretary-general attached importance to the forum on global challenges of peacekeeping to be held in Yerevan in the near future.