STEPANAKERT, APRIL 29, ARTSAKHPRESS: In his welcoming remarks, President Harutyunyan noted that the goal of the meeting is to discuss foreign political and socio-economic issues, as well as further cement the current cooperation between the two governments.

According to Arayik Harutyunyan, in regards to the future status of Artsakh, a common internal political agenda has been formed, not to deviate from the right of peoples to self-determination. Within this context, the President underscored the aggreement with the RA authorities, according to which any document will be discussed with the authorities of Artsakh, and any decision should proceed from the public mood in Artsakh.

"The second issue is the security component, which is currently of utmost importance for Artsakh. Fortunately, by immediate mediation of the Russian peacekeeping contingent the situation seems to settle down recently, which enables to discuss social-economic projects.

Our main problems at this stage are political, security-related, demographic and social-economic issues. We did not encounter any problems in all this so far, but there are some questions, the answers to which we expect to receive during today's discussion. This will determine our further steps in the context of continuing these projects," the President stressed.
In his turn, the RA Prime Minister noted that such meetings enable to sum up the collaborative works and plan out future activities.

Touching upon the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, Nikol Pashinyan mentioned the the number one beneficiary of the conflict settlement is Artsakh and its people. Consequently, any content to be negotiated and implemented behind closed doors, is merely illogical, such a thing is simply impossible to imagine.

"I consider it important and really appreciate your recent statement that the Artsakh authorities are also, in fact, adopting the agenda of peace. And I want to say that the agenda of peace is not the agenda of defeat at all. The agenda of peace is the agenda of overcoming the horror of war and the difficulties we have in the aftermath of the war, guaranteeing the security, the rights and the future of the people. As a result of hard work, I have to state today that I see the way, and I see the sequence of steps that should lead us to the destination that we are constantly talking about, discussing, and have already brought up. That is, the guarantee of the security and rights of the people of the Republic of Armenia and the Artsakh Republic, and as I have mentioned before, there is a very important principle for the people of Artsakh to live in Artsakh, to consider themselves Armenians of Artsakh. This is the agenda that we must jointly push forward," said the RA Prime Minister.