The expanded format session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council was held today (19 November) in Yerevan with the participation of the heads of government of the member states, and follows a narrow-format sitting of the council yesterday.
In attendance at the meetings are the prime minsters of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan; Belarus, Roman Golovchenko; Kazakhstan, Askar Mamin; Kyrgyzstan, Akylbek Japarov; and Russia, Mikhail Mishustin. Uzbekistan and Cuba, both observer states, participate in the international council via videoconference.
Speaking yesterday, Pashinyan began by welcoming his guests, adding that this event was “very significant” for Armenia. He went on to say that cooperation within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union was one of the priorities of the Armenian government, and that he was “ready to further continue making every possible effort to improve the mechanisms of cooperation and the effective functioning of the integration space”.
Pashinyan also spoke at the expanded format session today, referring to recent border clashes with Azerbaijan and noting that “our region was dragged into a new phase of tension, which, unfortunately, led to new human losses”. He added that “the responsibility lays with Azerbaijan, whose military provocations are aimed at violating the territorial integrity of our country, aborting the agreements reached by the trilateral statements of November 9, 2020, and January 11, 2021”. Discussions in the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council are expected to focus on the internal market, strengthening the agro-industrial complex, supplying raw materials to metallurgical companies, and exporting medicines and pharmaceutical substances to member states on the second day of meetings.