On November 19, in Manama, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan had a meeting with Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
During the meeting, issues of the bilateral agenda were discussed. Both sides emphasized their willingness to develop cooperation in various fields, noting the importance of periodic consultations between the Foreign Ministries of the two countries, the formation of the necessary legal framework, the organization of joint events and high-level visits. Ararat Mirzoyan pointed to trade and economic, civil aviation, tourism, information technologies as prospective areas of bilateral relations, stressing the need to take measures to attract investment.
Minister Mirzoyan emphasized that economic development in the region presupposes a stable and secure environment and it was in this context that he presented the "Crossroads of Peace" program developed by the Government of the Republic of Armenia. Noting that Armenia attaches importance to the deepening of mutually beneficial relations with the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, the Foreign Minister of Armenia expressed hope that the program will be attractive also for Middle Eastern countries, including Bahrain. Both sides welcomed the vision of advancing the peace agenda through similar programs.
The latest developments in the South Caucasus and the Middle East were also on the agenda of the meeting.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia briefed his Bahraini counterpart on the current security situation in the South Caucasus, as well as Armenia's approaches to establishing lasting peace and stability in the region. Ararat Mirzoyan spoke about the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan, the existing problems, stressing that they also don't make the path for peace in the South Caucasus easy. Confirming Armenia's commitment, in the context of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Ararat Mirzoyan emphasized the importance of expressing firm commitment by Azerbaijan on the issues of mutual recognition of territorial integrity, without any ambiguity, delimitation of borders based on the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991 and the latest fresh maps of the USSR, as well as unblocking regional communications under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries.
