On August 21, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan had a phone conversation with João Gomes Cravinho, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Portugal.

In continuation of the previous discussions held within the framework of his official visit to Lisbon in July, Minister Mirzoyan briefed his counterpart on the details of the hourly deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor. Ararat Mirzoyan particularly highlighted the extremely difficult conditions for vulnerable groups, including children, women and elderly people, as well as the acute shortage of food and medicine.

Touching upon the recent discussion of the UN Security Council on August 16, the urgency of reopening the Lachin corridor was emphasized, in accordance with the Orders of the International Court of Justice and implementing the relevant calls, made including by the EU. Ararat Mirzoyan stressed that otherwise, the situation would be close to turning into a real humanitarian disaster.

The bilateral agenda of relations between Armenia and Portugal, as well as issues of Armenia-EU cooperation, particularly the activities of the EU civilian monitoring mission in Armenia were touched upon.