Meeting in Munich Not Planned, But There Is Still Plenty to Discuss: Z. Mnatsakanyan

During the Munich Security Conference, I met with many of my colleagues, each of whom has our own agenda, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said in a conversation with reporters in Munich.

“In our meetings with partners, we adhere to only one principle—the interests of Armenia. Our policy is strongly in favor of Armenia and is well understood, but it also needs to be continuous. We have different agendas with different partners,” he noted.

Addressing the possibility of a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart before the conference, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan stated, “We did not plan a separate meeting. We may still meet in the corridors; perhaps an opportunity has not yet arisen. We have no problem meeting Foreign Minister Mammadyarov on the go, greeting him, but we do not have any special plans. If we had planned it, we would have announced it. We are quite attentive to this matter.”

According to Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, there is no meeting planned in Munich, but that does not mean there is nothing to discuss. “The work continues; it has its logic,” he said, adding that they will continue to meet.

When asked whether the organizers of the Munich Security Conference had proposed organizing a meeting, the foreign minister replied, “For us, the approach is that we do what we need, not what the organizers or anyone else needs. That’s what we are guided by, and I repeat, we did not have a specific purpose to meet now, especially in the context that the co-chairs will be in the region, and we will continue our work as planned.”

Regarding the recent threatening rhetoric by the President of Azerbaijan, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan stated, “We express our position very clearly; this position has continuity and logic. We say what we say. As for the harshness, we fully encourage reducing rhetoric and will continue to do so because it is not beneficial. Our determination has never been questioned, and the public understands that there is an existential security issue here—work towards peace does not stop, but our determination is not put into question.”