“I hope the ceasefire will signal the return to the peace process,” President Armen Sarkissain said at the Second Armenian Summit of Minds which opened today in Yerevan

Today, the Second Armenian Summit of Minds opened in Yerevan under the auspices of President Armen Sarkissian.

Over 500 representatives from different countries, international organizations as well as heads of major companies, well-known policy experts and analysts will participate virtually to the Summit.

In his opening remarks President Sarkissian greeted all those who will be the keynote speakers at the conference, those who will only participate and those who will follow the conference online. “Despite the events going on all over the world, and in the Caucasus, we decided to hold the Summit,” the President said. “This will not be the traditional three-day event, which would allow also to admire Dilijan and other picturesque parts of the Republic of Armenia. But I hope that we will meet again next year.”

According to the President of Armenia, it will be difficult to hold discussions and answer all question in one day, but one thing is clear, “We need to talk about the main issue: the world has really changed. This is a new world, and that the topic of our Summit.

Coronavirus, COVID-19, has not only affected multiple people but also economies of the countries, relations between them. Today, our discussions will focus on two main topics: one is coronavirus, C-19. But we need to talk also about C-20 which is the Caucaus-20, things that are happening now between Nagorno Karabakh – Republic of Artsakh and, with the involvement of Turkey, Azerbaijan. The problem affects also Armenia.”

Viewing in a sense as symbolic the fact that Summit kicked off at 12pm, President Sarkissian informed that yesterday in Moscow, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Azerbaijan, with the mediation of the Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov, reached agreement on a ceasefire. “The military actions have been going on for the last two weeks and claimed hundreds of lives and caused destruction in Nagorno Karabakh where towns and villages have been hit,” the President noted. “We cannot evade talking of C-19 but we cannot also evade C-20 topic.”

The President of Armenia thanked the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – US, Russia, and France for mediation and achieving a ceasefire and expressed special thanks to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov. “I hope the ceasefire will signal the return to the peace process,” President Sarkissian said.