Netherlands supportive of Nagorno-Karabakh peace process under OSCE  Minsk Group co-chairmanship - FM Mark Rutte

ArmInfo. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan met with the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Mark Rutte in The Hague.

Mr. Rutte attached importance to the official visit of the Prime  Minister of the Republic of Armenia to the Netherlands and the  development of cooperation between the two countries in all spheres.

During the meeting, the interlocutors also emphasized the development  and expansion of economic relations between the two countries, the  implementation of relevant measures to expand business ties. They  expressed confidence that there is a great potential for economic  cooperation between Armenia and the Netherlands, the realization of  which will contribute to the increase of trade turnover.

The parties touched upon the Armenia-EU relations, the situation  around Nagorno Karabakh, the processes taking place in the  international arena.

Then, the Heads of Government of the two countries issued statements.

Mark Rutte, in particular, said,

"Thank you very much. It is a great pleasure for me to welcome and  receive Nikol Pashinyan and some members of his government here.

The Netherlands and Armenia are geographically several thousand  kilometers apart, but in other respects the distance between our  countries is small. We are the appreciator of cultural values. An  exhibition opened at the Drents Museum yesterday, and I hope to visit  it soon. We also have excellent diplomatic relations that have  existed for 30 years. The opening of the Embassy of the Netherlands  took place in Yerevan, which confirms our excellent bilateral  relations.

The visit of Prime Minister Pashinyan is taking place at a very right  time, because the Armenian government has very big plans after last  year's elections. We have many topics to talk about, there are very  big plans. Armenia has made great investments, it is following the  path of democracy, although sometimes there are difficult situations  and conditions. Following the velvet revolution under the leadership  of Prime Minister Pashinyan, great changes have taken place,  corruption and many other wrongdoings have been fought. I am greatly  convinced that the reforms will be very effective, all Armenians will  benefit from it. I highly appreciate Mr. Pashinyan, I highly  appreciate the activities of his government, I promised him that we  will support in every way.

Although there are many positive achievements, unfortunately, the  catastrophic war in Ukraine saddens everyone. Of course, we talked  about that today. Our position is very clear: this terrible war must  end, all parties must sit at the table and start negotiations. Only  this can lead to lasting peace. Unfortunately, Armenia well  understands what war means, and that is why it is so important that  Armenia and Azerbaijan have recently begun negotiations to reach an  agreement on Nagorno-Karabakh in the near future. We emphasize its  importance; we support the Minsk Group Co-Chairs. It is a very  difficult dialogue after so much grief. Mr. Pashinyan made very clear  about that in the parliament. I expressed my respect for that, the  efforts of the Armenian government in that regard, we wholeheartedly  welcome and we will continue to welcome. Of course, we have not  finished our conversations yet, we will sit at the table soon, but I  would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Pashinyan and the  ministers for the visit.

During this visit, we reaffirmed what unites our nations. It promises  very good, positive cooperation in the future. I personally welcome  all that, thank you again, I hope we will meet again."

Nikol Pashinyan particularly said,

"Honorable Mr. Prime Minister,

First of all, I would like to thank you for the warm welcome and the  invitation to pay an official visit. I must state that this is the  first official visit of the Armenian leader to the Kingdom of the  Netherlands. And I have had several opportunities to say today that  the fact that this official visit is taking place at this time, I  assess it not only as the expression of our rich historical relations  and well-developed trade and economic relations, but also as the  support of the Netherlands, personally your, Mr. Prime Minister, to  the Armenian democracy, the agenda of democratic reforms adopted by  our government. This is my first visit to the Netherlands, I am very  impressed with your wonderful and beautiful country. And, of course,  it is an additional impetus, it encourages us to further develop  relations in all spheres, to encourage the further development of  human, cultural and economic ties between our countries. I must also  express my gratitude to you, Mr. Prime Minister, for the positions  you expressed regarding the settlement of the Nagorno- Karabakh  conflict, and for your clear support for the peace agenda adopted by  the Government of the Republic of Armenia. I must say that yes, we  received at last year's early parliamentary elections, which I am  pleased to say was unequivocally assessed by the international  community as free, in line with democratic standards, a mandate from  our people to adopt and implement the peace agenda. The agenda of our  bilateral relations is very rich, we hope to move forward in all  directions. We are very interested, we discussed on several occasions  today, in particular, the issue of wider application of agricultural  technologies in Armenia. We know that the Netherlands is the most  developed country in terms of agricultural-technologies, and we are  happy and thankful that both the government and the business  community we met today are interested in further developments in  these areas. The role of the Kingdom of the Netherlands ? your  government is very important in supporting democratic reforms. The  role of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and your government is very  important in supporting democratic reforms. Of course, our main  partner in this issue is the European Union, and of course, the  support of EU member states is important. I must state that in 2021  the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement  entered into force, which, in fact, is the joint agenda of democratic  reforms. And we are determined to fully implement that agenda, we are  determined to open an era of peaceful development for our country and  our region. We also discussed the processes taking place in  Armenia-Turkey relations, Armenia-Azerbaijan relations. And I am  happy to say that, in fact, we state that we have a common  understanding of these processes, a common understanding that the  peace agenda must really be implemented. But we all know that this is  not possible without the support of the international community, we  are glad that our agenda is understood by our international partners.  Let me thank you again for this warm welcome and express confidence  that as a results of the visit a new impetus will be given to the  further development of our relations.

Thank you."

Nikol Pashinyan and Mark Rutte answered the questions of the  journalists.

The visit of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to the Kingdom of the  Netherlands has ended.