Statement by Foreign Minister of Armenia and Answer to Journalist’s Question at the Joint Press Conference with the Foreign Minister of Lithuania

Good afternoon, dear colleagues,

Thank you for finding the time amid the election campaign bustle. Today is an important occasion for us: I have the honor of welcoming the Foreign Minister of Lithuania, my esteemed colleague and good friend Kęstutis Budrys along with his delegation to Armenia.

Mr. Minister, we often have opportunities to engage on various international platforms, but bilateral visits and meetings in our capitals, with the possibility of holding substantive and comprehensive discussions, naturally provide a special opportunity to further advance our political dialogue and cooperation.

I should note, dear colleagues, that this visit is taking place at a highly symbolic moment, as we mark the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries. It is precisely at this milestone, building upon all the progress and cooperation achieved thus far, that we have been able to sign a document elevating the level of our relations: from this moment onward, Armenia and Lithuania are strategic partners. This framework will enable us to deepen our political dialogue and cooperation even further, while also allowing us to approach sectoral interaction in a more comprehensive manner.

Today, we had the opportunity to discuss the prospects for our economic cooperation, particularly in the fields of information technologies, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity - areas in which Lithuania possesses extensive experience, and where we, too, have developed certain expertise and knowledge, enabling us to be valuable partners to one another.

Of course, our friendship, which in recent years has been especially evident in the bilateral domain, is also reflected in Armenia-European Union relations and across international platforms. We are grateful to our Lithuanian partners for their strong support in deepening Armenia-European Union relations.

The Armenia-Nordic-Baltic cooperation format is also of great importance and interest to us, and here as well we enjoy Lithuania's full support.

One of the best and most recent manifestations of our overall cooperation was the fact that we recently hosted the 8th European Political Community Summit in Yerevan, which was immediately followed by the first-ever Armenia-European Union Summit.

It is important to emphasize that our relations are founded first of all on shared values - sovereignty, democracy, and human rights. This is, of course, encouraging news, but there is also the parallel reality that these values I have just mentioned are increasingly being targeted by various actors and are facing hybrid threats in today's world. I would like to stress that this, too, is an area in which Lithuania and Armenia closely cooperate in order to address these challenges.

Dear colleagues, of course, we also discussed regional issues in the South Caucasus, as well as the broader geopolitical situation. I presented to my colleague the established peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the unblocking of regional infrastructure, and introduced the TRIPP project together with the steps being undertaken within its framework. Here as well, up to this day, and I am confident in the future too, we have seen and will continue to see Lithuania's welcoming attitude and readiness to support.

This was a very brief summary of what we discussed and what remains on our agenda. Once again, thank you very much, and I was truly delighted to welcome you to Armenia, dear friend.

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QA

Question: At the beginning of May, the Armenia - European Union Summit took place. I would like to first evaluate what it gave to Armenia, how understandable Armenia's approaches became for the European Union and the international community, and what risks became clearer, considering the statements coming from Russia after the summit, particularly Putin's call for orientation and even the mention of a "civilized divorce".

Ararat Mirzoyan: I believe that the Armenia - European Union Summit, which I want to emphasize was the first meeting of this format ever, was quite effective. As a result of the meeting, a rather extensive joint document was adopted - if my memory serves me right, it contains 35 points - where, as you can imagine, various sectors of established cooperation are mentioned, or the parties express their intention to deepen collaboration and outline specific projects to be implemented together.

I can say that both in the past and today, and I hope, I am rather confident that tomorrow as well, the European Union will continue to support Armenia's democracy and the process of integration with the European Union across various sectors.

As for your question about how much more understandable Armenia's approaches became, I should say that we have always presented Armenia's positions on various issues to our partners in a fairly dynamic manner - both at the level of the European Union and of the member states - and this summit was no exception in that regard.

It is no secret that Armenia and the European Union are increasingly drawing closer to each other. There are all the necessary opportunities for this, and the number one prerequisite is, in fact, the European aspirations of the Armenian people, which were expressed, for example, through last year's civic initiative that ultimately became a law adopted by the National Assembly.

When you ask about the assessments voiced by other partners, including our Russian partners, on this and similar occasions - and you also mentioned the phrase "civilized divorce" - we are not planning to divorce any partner or to have a "divorce" in our relations with any partner. In general, politics and diplomacy, it seems to me, have not particularly recognized such 'divorces' throughout history.

We also do not intend to introduce tension into Armenia-Russia relations. We are partners connected by many ties, and we are committed to developing those mutually beneficial relations in an atmosphere of healthy dialogue.

Problems certainly do exist, we see them, but I think that problems exist in all possible relationships in the world, and it has always been that way. Solutions to those problems simply need to be found through constructive discussion. In the end, all sides - and I say this also in a theoretical sense, for all kinds of relationships - must treat with great respect the other side's right to make independent decisions on this or that issue.

We understand very well - and we do not need Russia to tell us - that membership in the Eurasian Economic Union and membership in the European Union are incompatible; it is impossible to remain in the Eurasian Economic Union and become a member of the European Union at the same time.

And so, we will continue our rapprochement with the European Union, and when the moment comes - when it matures to the point that we must make a decision about whether to be a member of this group or that group of countries - we will make that decision. There is nothing new here, and again, we do not need others from outside to tell us this. In all other respects, we are inclined toward continuing positive, healthy cooperation in all directions, based on mutual respect and mutual interests.