Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met on Wednesday ( 3 November) with the leader of the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Arayik Harutyunyan in Yerevan. Media reports suggest that the topic of conversation was the socio-economic situation in Karabakh. The meeting came days before the first anniversary of the 44 day Karabakh War which resulted in the Armenian side loosing large swathes of territory which reverted back to Azerbaijan, including parts of the former Nagonro-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
“It can be stated that, during this period [since the war’s end], the government of Artsakh, together with the government of Armenia, managed to carry out very concrete work to restore normal life in Artsakh,” Pashinyan was quoted as saying before the meeting . “Of course, we do not consider what has been done to be satisfactory, and we, of course, must continue to work in that direction.”
During Wednesday’s meeting, Harutyunyan noted that “we are already reaping the first fruits as a result of large-scale work” to rebuild Karabakh. He said that the authorities in Karabakh expect to finish construction on at least 300 apartments in Stepanakert, the region’s capital, by the end of the year, with an additional 2,500-3,000 apartments slated to be built in 2022.
“I would also like to thank you for the fact that a large amount of money [for Karabakh] has been reflected in the state budget of Armenia for 2022,” Harutyunyan told Pashinyan. Harutyunyan said he is confident that the money will be sufficient for the authorities in Karabakh to “completely solve the housing, necessary infrastructure, and social problems.”