President Emmanuel Macron of France on Wednesday said his country was committed to continue its efforts for lasting peace in the region. He also said that France would provide 200,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses to Armenia.
Macron made the pledge during a telephone conversation to congratulate Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on his appointment.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron reportedly “praised the uninterrupted implementation of democratic processes in the country,” according to Pashinyan’s press office.
Pashinyan briefed Macron on the recent border provocations by Azerbaijan, as well as Azerbaijan’s aggressive rhetoric, emphasizing that their purpose is to destabilize the situation in the region. He also considered inadmissible the fake trials of Armenian captives in Azerbaijan.
Macron emphasized the importance to the delimitation and demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Agreeing with this idea, the Armenian Prime Minister stressed that the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict are not intersecting processes in any way. He reiterated the proposal to deploy a CSTO observation mission along the border, or in case of impossibility of such a decision, as an alternative, the deployment of an observation mission of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries.
The French President reaffirmed his readiness to continue efforts to establish lasting peace in the region.
Pashinyan, in turn, expressed confidence that the initiatives and steps within the regional context can be successful if they are approved by all the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries. The prime minister also stressed that the Armenian government welcomed the statements made by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs after November 9, including the resumption of the negotiation process, and was ready to be fully involved in the negotiation process.