The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the prime minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, held a phone conversation yesterday (3 August).
Macron reportedly began by congratulating Pashinyan on his reappointment as prime minister, praising the uninterrupted implementation of democratic processes in the country.
During the call, the French President announced the decision of France to send 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Armenia as part of the Act-A initiative and in co-ordination with its European partners.
The pair then discussed growing tension on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The Armenian readout reports that Pashinyan highlighted “recent border provocations by Azerbaijan”, accusing it of “aggressive rhetoric”, and expressing concern over the trials of Armenian detainees in Azerbaijan. Macron recalled France’s commitment to Armenia’s territorial integrity and highlighted the importance of relaunching negotiations and diplomatic processes to bring peace and stability to the region. According to the Armenian account, Macron reportedly urged the need for demarcation and delimitation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, which Pashinyan agreed with whilst stressing that this process does not intersect with the process of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in any way. The Armenian prime minister reiterated his earlier proposal calling for the deployment of either a Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) observation mission along the border, or a similar mission headed by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries.
Pashinyan expressed confidence in steps and initiatives in the regional context “if they are approved by all the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries”, stressing Armenia’s support for the statements of the OSCE Minsk Group and his country's readiness to be “fully involved in the negotiation process”. According to the French readout, the men agreed to continue their co-operation within the framework of the Minsk Group.
During a meeting earlier this month between Pashinyan and Jonathan Lacôte, the French ambassador to Armenia, it was confirmed that Macron would visit Yerevan at some point in the near future. Pashinyan was in Paris at the beginning of June, where he met Macron and other officials to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh situation, and French-Armenian bilateral relations.