Prior to the high-level joint meeting of the Armenia-EU-USA in Brussels, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Josep Borrell made statements.
In his speech, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted.
”Dear President Von der Leyen,
Dear Secretary Blinken,
High representative Borel
Dear friends,
Thank you for convening this high-level meeting to reaffirm our collective commitment to sovereign, resilient, and prosperous Armenia. This event underscores Armenia’s commitment to our shared values and the pursuit of more accountable and citizen-centred public institutions that deliver to its people.
Today’s high-level dialogue signifies Armenia’s expanding partnership with the United States and the European Union.
Despite facing multiple criseses, Armenia has made significant progress toward ensuring democracy. Expanding on the achieved progress, we will discuss Armenia’s efforts to strengthen the resilience of its democratic institutions. We firmly believe that respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms underpin our cooperation. The Republic of Armenia reaffirms its commitment to advancing justice and public sector reforms to build a stronger, more secure, and advanced country.
Building on our fruitful political cooperation, it is high time we foster our economic collaboration, promote trade and look into expanding our partnership in mobility. We are determined to enhance the competitiveness of the Armenian private sector to expand to new markets. Further, we stand ready to improve our investment climate and make it more appealing to European and American companies. We expect our partners to assist us in modernizing Armenia’s quality infrastructure, bridge business networks, and explore potential trade facilitation schemes.
Promoting socio-economic inclusion and addressing the short and long-term needs of more than 100,000 forcibly displaced Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh is also of paramount importance. Our collective efforts should focus on empowering refugees to rebuild their lives with dignity through housing and economic activation policies.
I want to stress that we remain committed to the normalization of relations with Azerbaijan based on mutual recognition of each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in accordance with the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991. Armenia is also fully committed to the delimitation of borders based on the Alma-Ata Declaration and unblocking all regional communications based on full respect for countries’ sovereignty and jurisdiction and the principles of equality and reciprocity.
To achieve this objective, we have introduced the Crossroads of Peace Initiative, which aims to promote connectivity and dialogue with neighbouring countries and beyond. To enhance synergies in the wider region, we seek to integrate our initiative with the EU’s Global Gateway Strategy and expect the support of our partners in this regard.
Madam President,
Secretary Blinken,
High representative Borel
I believe that our shared vision of a democratic, peaceful, and prosperous future will continue to serve as the backbone and the guiding star of our mutually trusted relations.
Once again, thank you for fostering this dialogue and for your continued support to the Republic of Armenia”.
