03/06/2021

New understandings between Macron and Pashinyan on several issues ahead of latter’s Paris visit

YEREVAN — Acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to visit Yerevan in the fall.

“I want to confirm that French President Emmanuel Macron has long planned to visit Armenia, but it did not take place because of the coronavirus pandemic,” Pashinyan stated at a press conference on Tuesday. “I hope that together we will overcome this crisis and other crises, and we are waiting for you in Yerevan in the fall.”

Pashinyan and an Armenian delegation will arrive in Paris on Monday, according to Armenpress, as part of a working visit by Pashinyan to France and Belgium.

During the visit, Pashinyan will meet with Macron, French House of Representatives Speaker Richard Ferran, and President of the Senate Gérard Larcher.

Macron said there was still much to be done, despite the general steadfastness of the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, elaborating on the need to release all prisoners, lift restrictions on the arrival of international humanitarian organizations in Nagorno-Karabakh, and to remove mines and remnants of war from the region.

Macron also stressed the need to protect heritage monuments in Nagorno-Karabakh, saying, “Heritage must be preserved, whether Christian or Islamic.”