Wednesday, November 15 2023 21:52

ArmInfo. The United States and the European Union want Armenia's rapprochement with its  transatlantic allies and are developing a scheme to ensure it. US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O'Brien announced, as quoted by TASS.

"[European Commission President Ursula] von der Leyen has publicly  stated that she intends to hold a meeting with us and Armenia with  the goal of bringing Armenia closer to our community. I discussed  this topic a few days ago with the Prime Minister [of Armenia Nikol  Pashinyan], and we are finding out what that might look like," the  diplomat said, speaking at the US House of Representatives Committee  on Foreign Affairs at a hearing on the situation around  Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Given the geographical proximity, the offer that the EU can make in  terms of trade preferences, economic cooperation and access to the  single market is incredibly important. We can help with this,"  O'Brien said.  He noted that the allies are "midway" and seeing what  the economic future could look like.  The Assistant Secretary of  State added that the United States and Europe are also working  closely on additional measures to ensure the security of Armenia. "We  are looking at all the tools we have. I'm not going to predict  decisions on sanctions, but this is certainly one element of our  arsenal," he emphasized.

James O'Brien also reported that the American administration believes  that that achieving a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia  now depends on Baku. "It seems that he is ready to take risks for the  sake of peace," an American diplomat said about Armenian Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan. "The real question is whether President  [Azerbaijan Ilham] Aliyev is ready to do the same. And he said he  is," the US foreign policy official said.