Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today received Nicholas Schermers, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Republic of Armenia, who is his country’s first resident Ambassador to Armenia.

Welcoming the Ambassador, the Prime Minister noted: “The opening of the Netherlands Embassy in Yerevan and the appointment of a resident ambassador open up new opportunities for the development of bilateral cooperation. This will help us promote relations not only in a bilateral but also in multilateral formats, including the European Union.”

The Prime Minister appreciated the constructive and impartial position of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to our region, as well as the support provided by the Netherlands for Armenia’s democratic reform agenda. With reference to the situation established following the Artsakh war, Nikol Pashinyan stressed that the return of prisoners of war is an absolute priority for the Armenian side and intensive efforts are being made in this direction. Prime Minister Pashinyan asked the Ambassador to convey warm greetings to Prime Minister Mark Rutte and expressed regret that the visit planned for last year had been postponed due to COVID-19.

In turn, considering the diplomatic mission in Armenia as a matter of honor, Nicholas Schermers assured of his readiness to do everything possible to strengthen Armenia-Netherlands relations. According to the Ambassador, his country opened the Netherlands embassy in Armenia to ensure a balanced diplomatic presence in the region, which may provide the opportunity to carry out initiatives aimed at promoting democratic and economic development in Armenia through strengthened rule of law.

Highlighting the importance of reciprocated high-level visits, the Ambassador expressed hope that it would be possible to arrange a visit by Prime Minister Pashinyan to the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the near future. Nicholas Schermers expressed condolences to the Prime Minister for the military and civilians killed in the Artsakh war and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

The parties discussed the development of economic ties between Armenia and the Netherlands. Cooperation in the fields of information technology, agriculture, tourism and humanitarian affairs was considered to be mutually beneficial.

The Prime Minister stressed that his government’s vision is to build a knowledge-based highly technological economy and urged the Ambassador to call the attention of his country’s economic entities to the prospects of investing in the aforementioned areas. Nikol Pashinyan also spoke of the opportunities created by the unblocking of economic and transport infrastructure in the region.

Ambassador Schermers expressed readiness to inform Netherlands-based companies about Armenia’s investment opportunities and to make active efforts with a view to promoting bilateral cooperation. He highly appreciated the role played by the Armenian community in different spheres of public life in the Netherlands.