On July 5, Ambassador Tigran Balayan made a speech at the "South Caucasus and the European Union" organized by "LINKS Europe." Addressing challenges and seizing opportunities" ("The South Caucasus and the European Union - addressing challenges, seizing opportunities") conference, thanking the Armenian government for the opportunity to present its views on cooperation with the EU, Armenia's critical international partner;

"There is a Dutch custom where the agenda is planned months in advance, and as we have been informed of this important event very recently, today is one of those days when I am in Brussels with a series of planned meetings that practically promote our relationship with the European Union. cooperation. The EU is Armenia's key partner in all possible fields. After the ratification of the GCC, Armenia started implementing the ambitious agenda with the EU. Our partnership is based on common values aimed at strengthening democratic reforms in Armenia, good governance, rule of law, fight against corruption and welfare of RA citizens.

The implementation of the ACE is controlled by the interdepartmental commission chaired by Deputy Prime Minister M. Grigoryan. We have a developing economic cooperation, as well as an increase in the volume of investments. Scientific and cultural cooperation is also one of the pillars of our bilateral relations.

With the recently signed agreements with Europol and the planned conclusion of a similar agreement with Eurojust, institutional cooperation between law enforcement systems is launched, demonstrating confidence in Armenia and its adopted reform agenda.

In January, we held the first high-level political and security dialogue between Armenia and the EU. Armenia attaches great importance to the security component of our partnership. We welcome the EU's mediation role between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We thank President Michel and the European External Action Service team led by Ambassador Klaar for consistent efforts encouraged by member states.

The deployment of the EU observation mission along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is the best that has happened in the region since 2008, when a similar mission was deployed in Georgia. We believe that the EU has a sufficient vote of confidence in its relations with its reliable energy partner to deploy a similar mission on the Azerbaijani side of the border, as well as to facilitate the deployment of UN-mandated EU missions in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachine Corridor.

We believe that the EU's mediation should be strengthened by monitoring mechanisms for the implementation of the agreements reached and international law, and there should be consequences if the agreements are not respected. As we have regrettably recorded many times, the agreements are not kept until it is clear what will follow their violation.

In that sense, we welcome the commitment made by High Representative J. Borel in the European Parliament, which sets a deadline to stop the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor," Balayan said, emphasizing once again the importance of such events, which aim to bring together people who are trying to contributed to the establishment of stable peace in the South Caucasus.