Armenian Defense Minister holds talks with representatives of EU  technical assessment mission

ArmInfo.RA Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan received the EU technical assessment mission led by Marcin Wydra. Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia Andrea  Wiktorin also took part in the meeting.

According to the press service of the RA Ministry of Defense, during  the meeting, the results of the activities of the EU monitoring  mission, which ended on December 19, 2022, were summed up. The  parties noted with satisfaction the effective cooperation between the  mission and the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia,  expressing the hope that efficiency will be maintained during the  activities of the new mission.

Suren Papikyan presented the latest regional developments, in  particular, he spoke about the blockade of the Lachin corridor by  Azerbaijan since December 12 and the serious humanitarian challenges  that arose as a result of these actions.

The Minister of Defense highly appreciated the participation of the  EU in strengthening peace and stability in the region, especially  pointing out the important role of the monitoring missions, and  expressed Ministry's readiness to continue to support the new EU  monitoring mission in every possible way. 

It should be noted that on December 20, 2022,  High Representative of  the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep  Borrell, made a statement in which he noted that on December 19, the  EU monitoring group in Armenia (EUMCAP), launched in October,  completed its mandate. Borrell recalled that the mission was deployed  on October 20 on the basis of an agreement between the leaders of  Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Council of Europe and France in order to  monitor, analyze and report on the situation on the ground The  Council, in consultation with the Armenian authorities, decided that  the existing EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM in Georgia) would  send a temporary planning assistance team to Armenia to raise EU  awareness of the security situation and to contribute to the planning  and preparation of a possible civilian mission under the Common  Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) in the country.