Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian is concluding a two-day visit to Vilnius, Lithuania, where he participated in the international conference entitled “Common Vision for a Common Neighborhood.” The presidents of Lithuania and Poland opened the conference. High level officials from two dozen European countries were in attendance.

President Adamkus, on behalf of all participants, expressed condolences on the tragic crash of the Armavia plane yesterday, over Sochi, and the resulting loss of life.

In his statement, Minister Oskanian first expressed Armenia’s appreciation for the generous expressions of sympathy, and proceeded to speak about political processes in the post-soviet space. He also reflected on the Nagorno Karabakh resolution process.

In the margins of the conference, Minister Oskanian met with Javier Solana, High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union. They discussed the European Neighborhood Policy Action Plan which is near completion. They also spoke about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the Minister updated the High Representative on the status of the process.

Minister Oskanian also met with Karel de Gucht, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium, and the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE. They explored Armenia-OSCE relations, as well as the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The two ministers discussed Armenia-Belgium bilateral issues, as well.

Finally, Minister Oskanian met with the Foreign Minister of Romania, Razvan Ungureanu with whom he discussed bilateral issues and matters dealing with the Black Sea Forum for Dialogue and Partnership to be held in Bucharest in early June.

The transcript of Minister Oskanian’s remarks appears below:

Let me join the others in expressing our appreciation to the Lithuanian and Polish presidents for organizing this conference and for inviting Armenia. It’s been an illuminating and inspiring day. I also would like to thank President Adamkus and the Lithuanian government for the wonderful reception and also for everyone’s _expression of sympathy with regard to the tragic airplane accident yesterday morning.

Mr. President, your visit to Armenia is still fresh in our minds, and the message that you brought – the message of democracy, peace and cooperation – still reverberates in my mind. We’ve always appreciated the leadership that Lithuania has shown with regard to bridging our two regions --- the Baltics and the Caucasus -- and making your experience available to us to develop our region and to develop cooperation among our countries. Your efforts fall within a similar, and broader, effort by transatlantic organizations. With the benefit of hindsight, we wonder where we, the countries of the Caucasus, would have been had there not been the vision demonstrated by the leadership of these structures to make their knowledge and practice available to countries like ours in the post-soviet space. Organizations like the OSCE, the Council of Europe and others opened up and shared their experience. Even more, there was the foresight to create new structures, such as EAPC within NATO, to embrace these countries, to provide a framework for our development.

We, the countries which have been the beneficiaries of those organizations and the processes created around them, want you to know that this guidance has been very helpful and useful.

Still, each of us in the post-soviet space, has chosen a different way to benefit (or not benefit) from the varying options made available to us. Those different options fall into three categories:

First, there are those who have chosen the more abrupt and revolutionary path to reform; then, there are those who have chosen the more incremental and evolutionary path, and third, there are those who have dug-in their heels and are not moving in a new direction.

Armenia has chosen the second path – the evolutionary, incremental approach -- because we believe in two principles.

Firstly, as Javier Solana said, democracy is not a one-shot deal, it does not happen overnight. We know that, and we believe that as long as you know that you are on the right track and are confident that you are moving forward and not backtracking, then the evolutionary and incremental approach to democracy is more effective and enduring.

Secondly, we understand that democracy is a tool for development, that there is clear linkage between democracy and prosperity. As much as democracy is a tool for development, we know that economic development is a facilitator of democratization. I want to emphasize the EU’s enhanced role in these interconnected processes through the creation of a new program and a new instrument -- the European Neighborhood Policy and the Action Plan. We are currently negotiating the Action Plan, the process will be concluded soon, and it will elevate the level of our relations with the EU to new heights. It will reinforce the reforms and make them irreversible. Further, it will increase the integrational options and make available new possibilities.

Now Mr. chairman, my second topic: unresolved conflicts. First, let me address the charges leveled at Armenia by the Azerbaijani Prime Minister. He basically called Armenia an aggressor, and called the Armenians inhabiting Nagorno Karabakh terrorists and drug traffickers. Given the overall spirit of the talks which are taking place at the highest level, between the presidents, and given the positive elements that exist at this moment, such inaccurate and inflammatory comments are not understandable. Nor are they justified. Especially since territories under Armenian control today are the consequences of Azerbaijan’s aggression toward people it considered its own citizens. I don’t think that Javier Solana was overly optimistic when he said there are positive aspects in this process, but Mr. Solana, those positive elements can be transformed to encouraging developments only if the Azerbaijani side is clearly told and finally understands that they don’t have a military option here. With their oil resources and with high oil prices, they have unfortunately come to believe, or at least they publicly proclaim that there is a military option available to them. With that kind of thinking, it will not be easy to compromise. But they need to be told very clearly by the EU and others, that there is no military option, so that they make the necessary compromises, as Armenia has already done, to reach a peaceful resolution. Only then, Mr. Chairman, do we stand a chance of making further progress this year, eventually bringing peace and stability to this region.