In near future, Armenia to sign agreement regulating presence of EUMA  -Pashinyan

ArmInfo.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on March 2 in Berlin at a joint press conference  following a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz thanked his German counterpart for his efforts to send a civil EU mission to  Armenia.

<I would like to thank the German government for supporting the  decision to re-deploy a long-term EU civilian mission in Armenia and  express confidence that this mission will have a significant impact  on establishing peace and security in the region. I personally thank  Chancellor Scholz, because I know that his participation in this  decision is great>, said the head of the Armenian Cabinet.

It is planned to sign an agreement regulating the presence of the EU  civil mission in Armenia in the near future, the RA Prime Minister  said. <Now the deployment of the EU monitoring mission is regulated  by mutual official letters. But we also have an agreement that the  agreement governing this presence and mission should be discussed,  agreed upon and signed. And I also think that we may sign a document  regulating the presence of the monitoring mission in the near future,  when we hold negotiations and come to a common agreement >, Pashinyan  said.

Touching upon the blockade of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan, the  head of the RA Cabinet of Ministers stated that by doing so, Baku  grossly violates its obligations as part of the statement dated  November 9, 2020. This is also part of a large-scale and systematized  policy of ethnic cleansing of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, he  said.

In this vein, the Prime Minister considers it extremely important to  send the international fact-finding mission to the Lachin Corridor  and Nagorno-Karabakh in order to provide more comprehensive  information to the international community.

On February 22 the International Court of Justice issued a decision  against Azerbaijan, by which Azerbaijan was obliged to take all  necessary measures to ensure the free movement of people, vehicles  and goods in both directions along the Lachin Corridor, Pashinyan  urged international partners to take effective steps to ensure the  immediate implementation of the court decision by Azerbaijan.

On January 23 this year, the Council of the EU has agreed to form a  new European Union civilian mission in Armenia (EUMA) within the  framework of the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP). As stated  in the EU message, the aim of the Mission is to promote stability in  the border areas of Armenia, build confidence on the ground and  provide an environment conducive to EU-supported efforts to normalize  relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The EU civil mission in  Armenia includes up to 100 specialists. More than 8 million euros  have been allocated for the first four months of the Mission's work.  EUMA's initial mandate will be for two years and its operational  headquarters will be located in Armenia. The Civil Operations  Commander will be Stefano Tomat, Managing Director of the EEAS Civil  Planning and Conduct (CPCC) Division. February 20 this year The  European Union has deployed a new civilian mission to monitor the  situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Its becoming included,  including 8 French gendarmes and 15 police officers from Germany. The  headquarters of the mission is located in Yeghegnadzor.