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In 2023, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs implemented 6 programmes with 15 measures: The actual performance was 25bln 57mlnAMD. The expenditures increased towards the primary planned one by 41.2%, the performance towards the specified plan was 99.5%. The growth of the expenditures was mainly conditioned by the programme ensuring the housing conditions of the embassies abroad. The RA Deputy Minister Vahan Sirunyan presented these data at June 4 joint sitting of the NA Standing Committees on Foreign Relations and on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs, where the debate of the annual report on the RA State Budget Execution for 2023 continued.

Afterwards, the Minister of Foreign Affairs presented in general terms the works done by the institution in the financial year, the used financial allocations for them.

“From the beginning of the year the issues relating to the security and regional process of Armenia remained key ones in 2023 for us. You remember that from December 2022 we had illegal blocking of the Lachin corridor, which lasted more than 8 months. We had numerous occasions to speak about this process and the steps taken by the Republic of Armenia. At this moment, I would like only to mention the two meetings of the UN Security Council and the remained steps, the efforts of the international community and the efforts and the decisions of the legal instances, which unfortunately, mostly did not give any result and we had forcible displacement of the indigenous Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh. From that moment we also directed our efforts at ensuring the international consolidation and the international wide engagement in showing necessary assistance to the refugees,” Ararat Mirzoyan said and added that in parallel with this, particularly, the settlement of relations with neighbours, Azerbaijan and the peace process, which had been the main direction of the activity of our country in all components.

As such, the Minister noted the Peace Treaty, also the launch of the delimitation process or the specification necessary rules, the efforts aimed at the unlocking of the transport and economic infrastructures of the region. Ararat Mirzoyan also touched upon the relations of Armenia with other countries and structures and structures, the positive procedure of the settlement of the relations with some states.

The Minister informed that in 2023 Armenian had diplomatic relations with 182 states, opened embassies in some countries.

“You know that Armenia, basically, has frozen its participation in the CSTO events, there weren’t mostly new developments in 2023,” he said.

The Minister also referred to the ongoing works in 2024, the priorities of the sphere, answered the MPs’ various questions and observations.