News - Pashinyan's and von der Leyen's statement: In these difficult times, the EU and Armenia stand shoulder to shoulder

Following the meeting between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Granada, in the margins of the European Political Community, a joint statement was adopted. In particular, it says.  “We met today in the city of Granada, in the margins of the European Political Community summit hosted by Spain. We reiterated our condemnation of the military operation by Azerbaijan against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh and reaffirmed the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of both Armenia and Azerbaijan, on the basis of the 1991 Almaty declaration and the understanding that Armenia's territory covers 29,800 km2 and Azerbaijan's 86,600 km2.  We also stressed that opening of regional connectivity links should be based on full respect of countries' sovereignty and jurisdiction, as well as on the principles of equality and reciprocity.  Armenia and the EU are bound by shared political values and their commitment to a rules-based international order. In these difficult times, the EU and Armenia stand shoulder to shoulder. We are committed to further strengthen EU-Armenia relations.  As we discussed earlier this week, our immediate focus is to attend to the humanitarian needs of the over 100,000 Karabakh Armenians that have fled to Armenia. We discussed how to ensure maximum effectiveness of the humanitarian aid and other immediate support provided by the EU which will reach 10.45 million euros. President von der Leyen also announced that the Commission is mobilising funding to allocate 15 million euros from its annual programme for Armenia to be used as budget support. This will allow the government of Armenia to address urgent socio-economic needs and support purchasing food and fuel. In the longer run, the European Union and Armenia are determined to reinforce their economic ties, working to bring out the full potential of our Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.  In particular, the EU Economic Investment Plan (EIP) for Armenia provides up to 2.6 billion euros to be used for investments in important infrastructure and other projects. The Commission and Armenia will redouble efforts to implement important projects. The Commission will also support Armenia's participation in regional projects such as the Black Sea Electricity Cable.  Finally, the Commission will step up technical assistance to Armenia, particularly in the areas of air safety and nuclear safety. President von der Leyen informed of the preparations for a Joint EU-US event to support Armenia. We will continue discussions on ways in which to strengthen further our relationship in the coming days.”