French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived in Armenia on an official visit at the invitation of Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan.
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Jean-Yves Le Drian made a joint press conference based on the results of their talks on May 28.
The French Minister called the origins of the Armenian-French relations historical. “Armenia is at a turning point in its history in terms of recent events. I would like to welcome the spirit of responsibility and dialogue, which the political forces and the people demonstrated, which allowed them to choose a new Prime Minister on May 8. I am very proud that I am the first high-ranking official responsible for meeting new Armenian leaders. Armenian authorities and dear Zohrab, I want to say that France will continue to support Armenia to help build democracy”, noted the French official.
“We discussed Armenia-EU relations. France is quite involved in this area. This agreement is fully embedded in other international commitments of Armenia. You are the only one to have such a partnership with the EU”, French Minister noted.
Jean-Yves Le Drian informed that they had touched upon the Karabakh issue in the talks with the Armenian Foreign Minister. “As a co-chair country of the OSCE Minsk Group France has its role in that process. We are resolute to continue our role. We often had the opportunity to state that the use of force is not a solution, we fully agree with Mr. Mnatsakanyan in this regard. Neither the status quo nor the use of force is acceptable. A pragmatic and creative approach should be applied”, announced French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian in Yerevan.
Emma GABRIELYAN
