ArmInfo.Chairman of the RA NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, MP of the ruling "Civil Contract" faction Sargis Khandanyan believes that the RA-EU-US trilateral high-level meeting in Brussels was, first of all, special from the point of view of the diversification of Armenia's foreign policy, as well as the role and perception of Armenia in international relations.
"The EU and the US reaffirmed their support for the sovereignty, democracy, territorial integrity and socio-economic sustainability of Armenia.
The EU and US welcomed the Crossroads of Peace initiative presented by the Armenian government, which will promote shared prosperity and regional cooperation.
This unprecedented meeting is important as a starting point for Armenia's efforts to diversify its economy.
The financial support promised by the EU and the USA will help strengthen Armenia's resistance in a number of areas and solve humanitarian problems," Khandanyan wrote on his Facebook page.
At a joint briefing, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen expressed European Union's readiness to provide Armenia with 270 million euros in grant funds for economic development, in particular to support small and medium-sized businesses, as well as infrastructure development within 4 years. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in his turn recalled Washington's plans to provide Armenia with more than $65 million in aid from budget funds for the 2023 fiscal year, and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, noting that "Armenia has increasingly [been] targeted by Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference. And part of our commitment is to support you to tackle disinformation, and to make people understand which is the right way of doing things, improving media literacy."
The Russian Foreign Ministry responded in the evening to the high-level meeting in the Armenia-US-EU format. "We consider the high-level meeting in the Armenia-US-EU format that took place on April 5, 2024 in Brussels as another attempt by the "collective West" to drag the South Caucasus into a geopolitical confrontation: It is obvious that the West wants to turn Armenia into an instrument for implementing its extremely dangerous plans in the South Caucasus," the statement said.