Serzh Sargsyan: Armenia supports further strengthening of CIS

During his working visit to Belarus, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan delivered a speech today at the meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of State held in Minsk, the presidential press service reported.

Having thanked Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for hospitality and warm reception, Serzh Sargsyan said in particular:

“Among the agenda issues of this meeting, I would like to highlight the Address to Peoples and the World Community on the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. The bloody lessons of two World Wars of the 20th century and the lessons of patriotism of our peoples shall be engraved on the future generations’ memory. The events due to be held in this connection should stress the priority of such issues as countering the attempts of revise history and glorify Nazism, the fights against racism, xenophobia and intolerance, the prevention of crimes against humanity, and raising youths in the spirit of tolerance, interethnic and inter-confessional accord.

The Armenian people know the price of religious and ethnic intolerance. Next year we will mark the Armenian Genocide Centennial. Commemorative events will be held throughout the world. We believe that a crucial instrument for preventing a recurrence of that heinous crime is the recognition and condemnation of crimes against humanity that were committed in the past.
One of the most recent demonstrations of religious intolerance was the explosion of the Holy Martyrs Armenian Church in Syria’s Deyr ez-Zor by Islamic State militants. The desecration of the remains of Genocide victims in the church crypt, and inhuman persecution of Christian, Yazidi and other communities in the Middle East cannot be justified and do not fit into philosophy of religions, including Islam. We are grateful to all those who strongly condemned that act of barbarism.

Respected heads of state!

Cooperation in military sphere, with law enforcement and frontier guard bodies, the fight against drug trafficking and illegal migration remains a priority to us. Considerable work in this direction shall be done by sectoral cooperation bodies whose activities aim to solve specific problems and achieve tangible results. In line with this spirit, Armenia held over a dozen sittings of CIS bodies this year.

Next year, it is planned to declare Voronezh and Kulyab “cultural capitals of the CIS”, and the year 2015 will be a year of education. We expect the implementation of these decisions to promote the strengthening of ties in our common humanitarian space, the development of contacts in culture, science and education and the expansion of tourist exchanges. These projects are in harmony with our policy of quality education and the creation of a science intensive economy in Armenia. These sectors are a state priority in our country. In a few days, a school will open in Dilijan – the first CIS school to become a member of United World Colleges movement. 96 pupils from 50 countries, including 14 teens from CIS countries, will attend that school in Armenia.

Armenia supports the further strengthening of the CIS and the development of equitable and mutually beneficial cooperation with CIS member states”.