As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, FM Mirzoyan said in his speech,

“Mr. President,

Madam Secretary General of Francophonie,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Mr. President, I am very happy to participate in this Ministerial Conference in your beautiful country and I want to thank you for the hospitality.

I would also like to thank the Secretary General of La Francophonie for ensuring the proper functioning of our organization during this difficult period, implementing important reforms and outlining the initiatives expected in the coming years. Indeed, the new strategic framework of Francophonie sets out priorities and ambitions for Francophonie to which we are fully committed.

Today we have gathered here in the context of the crisis of multilateralism, which is accompanied by the multiplication of the number of conflicts.

We note that collective security mechanisms based on respect for the principles of the UN Charter, in particular, sovereign equality, non-use of force against the territorial integrity of any state, can no longer guarantee the security of states against the aggressive policies of some states.

One of the first victims of the latter was Armenia, against whose territorial integrity and sovereignty Azerbaijan carried out aggressions starting from May of last year, the last one took place on September 13-14 of this year, which led to consequences known to all of us. Occupation of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, hundreds of victims and wounded, thousands displaced and destruction of civil infrastructures.

Let's not forget about the gross violations of international humanitarian law, the terrible atrocities committed by the Azerbaijani military against Armenian prisoners, including female servicemen, which horrified the world.

Tensions still remain today on our border with Azerbaijan, and despite the commitment to not use force or the threat of force, the president of Azerbaijan continues to threaten the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia and make unfounded territorial claims.

In this regard, we welcome the fact that many countries have recognized the fact of the violation of Armenia's territorial integrity and demanded the withdrawal of Azerbaijani forces from the sovereign territory of Armenia.

Armenia remains committed to the peaceful settlement of all issues related to the conflict, including ensuring the rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, and thanks the international partners who are making efforts to achieve this.

Mr. President, dear colleagues,

Returning to the work of our conference, Armenia expresses its support for the documents submitted for our approval, which refer to the draft strategic framework of La Francophonie, the declaration on the French language and the regulations related to the accession procedure.

We also express our agreement to the draft declaration of Djerba. In this regard, we would like to congratulate the Tunisian presidency for keeping digitization in the focus of all of us.

Regarding the draft resolution on crisis situations in the French-speaking world, we would like to thank you for the paragraphs regarding Armenia. It is important that the Francophonie member countries and governments have expressed solidarity with Armenia, making their own the main issues that condition the peaceful settlement of the conflict between the parties.

Concluding my speech, I finally want to return to the request of the Albanian delegation to reopen the discussion of the paragraphs related to Armenia, which the Armenian delegation does not agree with for the following several reasons.

Concluding my speech, I finally want to return to the request of the Albanian delegation to reopen the discussion of the paragraphs related to Armenia, which the Armenian delegation does not agree with for the following several reasons.

The first and most important thing is that these paragraphs are very balanced and are the result of compromises towards which Armenia has made efforts.

The second reason is that we should respect the work of the Committee on the Coordination of Documents, its chairman and members, who have held long discussions to find mutually acceptable solutions to various problematic issues. These paragraphs are also the end-result of that work.

I would add one more, the last reason, that is, the effectiveness of the work of this conference. We do not think that the Albanian delegation can present, as it announced a while ago, a draft of paragraphs that can find a consensus within the framework of our conference. We consider it ineffective to start new discussions, which can only lead to a dead end.

During the discussions of Committee on the Coordination of Documents, a consensus has already been reached regarding the points related to Armenia, and if the Albanian delegation has some difficulties in confirming it, it can express a reservation on these paragraphs, like some delegations have done on other points of the draft decision.

Thanks for attention".