Armenia – Visit by Catherine Colonna (3 October 2023)

Mme Catherine Colonna, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, will pay a second visit to Armenia on 3 October, after that of 28 April. She will be received by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. She and her counterpart, Mr Ararat Mirzoyan, will then visit Armenian refugees who fled Nagorno-Karabakh following the military offensive begun by Azerbaijan on 19 September and nine months of illegal blockade, under the complicit gaze of Russia.

The Minister will reiterate France’s commitment alongside Armenia. She will reaffirm France’s support for Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and its extreme vigilance with regard to them. She will look with the Armenian authorities at concrete ways of strengthening our cooperation in every sphere.

Mme Colonna will recall France’s active efforts to bring about a just, lasting peace in the Caucasus and respect for the rights of the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh. These active efforts are illustrated by the tripling of France’s humanitarian aid to Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh population, which reached €12.5 million from the beginning of the year, with the Minister’s announcement on 27 September of an additional €7 million of financial aid. This comes on top of the efforts by French civil society and local authorities. Emergency medical aid was also delivered to the Armenian authorities on 29 September, to help care for refugees and the victims of an explosion at a fuel depot in Nagorno-Karabakh on the evening of 25 September.