As you know, this is the third meeting of the Armenia-EU Partnership Council. And it is timely and important meeting when we are going to discuss a wide range of issues, starting from situation in Nagorno Karabakh and in the region, and also issues concerning Armenia-EU political dialogue, implementation of Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement as well as our participation in the framework of the Eastern Partnership. Of course, we will also address the issues of the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on different spheres of our life and the ways of overcoming it. 

There will be an important reflection on our reforms agenda including democracy, implementation of rule of law and protection of human rights. We will touch upon the cooperation in different sectors among them trade and economy, political dialogue, education, transport, energy and environment.

I would like to note with satisfaction that since our last Partnership Council meeting, all but one state already notified the ratification of the CEPA agreement. And the draft of the roadmap of the provisions that still are not into force, have been drafted in Armenia. We are looking very much forward to the early prompt ratification of CEPA and its full entry into the force, so the effects of our cooperation will amplify and multiply to the benefit of the people of the Republic of Armenia. 

Of course, at the center of our discussion will be the regional topics and the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, when Azerbaijan challenged the values of the very initiative of the Eastern Partnership, our core european values. Azerbaijan blatantly violated its international commitments by using force against the right to self-determination of the people of Artsakh, deliberately targeting the civilian population and vital civilian infrastructure, committing systematic and heinous war crimes targeting not only the indigenous people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), but also our rich religious and cultural heritage explicitly demonstrating its genocidal intent to wipe out any reminder of Armenia’s millennia-old presence in the region.

You know that this aggression was directly supported by Turkey, in overall this aggression undermined the security and peace in the South Caucasus. It also put in evidence that Turkey and Azerbaijan set a precedent for solving the conflicts in the area of Eastern Partnership.

And in this regard we would like to hear the opinion of our colleagues of the European Union about this last aggression and its implication on regional stability. 

Cynical and aggressive behavior of Azerbaijan is not acceptable and should be condemned because they put into question the core values of the Eastern Partnership.

We are also looking very much forward to hearing the role of the European Union in addressing the consequences of this aggression particularly in regard to the overcoming of the humanitarian crisis on the ground.