Foreign Policy for Safe Armenia - Serzh Sargsyan's election program's extract

Armenia’s presidential candidate Serzh Ssargsyan has presented in his serzhsargsyan.am website his election program consisting of 16 chapters, preamble and epilogue.

The pre-electoral platform of the incumbent president includes educational, healthcare, economic, rural and agricultural development, homeland protection and army parts.

The sector relating to the foreign policy is entitled Foreign Policy on the Way Toward Safe Armenia.

In this part Serzh Sargsyan says that Armenia’s engagement in the international relations is more involving and dynamic than ever with both multilateral and bilateral relations developing at the same time.

“The legal grounds of our international activity are being reinforced. Armenia is developing relations with all the leading countries of the world, with force institutions. More and more favorable conditions are being created for presenting the state’s interests, defending the rights of our citizens,” the program runs.

The ruling political force promises that the 2015, which coincides with marking of the 100th anniversary of Armenian Genocide, will be a political harbor for the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and will transfer the issue to a new platform.

The political force also promises to keep the reinforcement of the security elements under the limelight, stay committed to the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict on the basis of the right of people to self-determination. In his program the incumbent president wrote that they will give new impetus to the expansion of Armenia’s engagement in international political and economic processes, to the process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide and elimination of its consequences, to the steps directed toward the preservation of the Armenian cultural heritage. The relations with Russia, USA and EU will continue developing. A special attention will be paid toward reinforcement of relations with neighboring countries – Georgia and Iran, improvement of relations with Turkey without pre-conditions. He also stresses the expansion of cooperation with China, India, Japan, developing integration processes in the CIS territory.

In the sector relating to the Nagorno-Karabakh it is noted that the issue will be solved in exclusively peaceful way, through negotiations. In this respect parliamentary diplomacy’s opportunities will be actively used. “At the same time we are ready to resolutely respond to any encroachment that will threaten our security,” the program reads.

Serzh Sargsyan registered in his program that taking into consideration Azerbaijan’s unconstructive policy and Armeniaphobia he promises to increase more the security guarantees of Nagorno-Karabakh and its people.

The candidate also promised to exert all his efforts for Karabakh to become a negotiating side.

Additional efforts will be exerted to make the relation between Karabakh and international community closer.