Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has arrived in the Republic of Lithuania on an official visit. In the sidelines of the visit, the Prime Minister met with representatives of the local Armenian community, who represent the spheres of healthcare, culture and business.

Welcoming the participants of the meeting, the Prime Minister noted that this is his first visit to Lithuania and hopes that it will be productive. “The following should be recorded: following the June 20 elections, we note that the interest of the EU countries to develop relations with the Republic of Armenia has grown, though that interest has never been small. In this regard, Lithuania is trying to be particularly active and supportive. This is not accidental, because there are traditional ties with Lithuania, Lithuania knows the Republic of Armenia much better, there were active contacts between the two countries during the period of the USSR. We hope that our cooperation will be even more effective.

We are working with the EU to implement the € 2.6 billion investment projects in the coming years, which have several directions: business, technology, SME development, digitalization, development of Syunik or the southern regions of Armenia. We have already presented our ideas about the program to the EU partners and we hope to carry out substantive work towards their implementation. Those programs must be implemented with the co-funding of the state budget of Armenia; the launch of those programs is included in the next year's budget”, Nikol Pashinyan said.

Nikol Pashinyan referred to the situation around Armenia, adding that the post-war period was very difficult. “The problems related to the domestic political situation were solved, but the problems of the external environment remain tense. It was an interesting trial of overcoming domestic tensions through elections, which served as a tool to resolve the problems, while in the past the elections mainly became the starting point of domestic political tension. In this regard, I am pleased to note that the atmosphere of public unrest that we had from November to June has been resolved’’, the PM said.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, the problems related to the external environment are quite complicated, the environment around Armenia remains tense. “Despite all this, we have adopted the policy of opening an era of peaceful development for our region. We understand that peace does not depend only on the Republic of Armenia. At the same time, we will continue this path’’, the Head of the Government said, adding that every day new developments take place, aimed at proving the opposite, but Armenia must try to go forward in this direction.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan emphasized, “The protection of Armenia's sovereignty, the rights of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh, including the right to self-determination, are among our priorities, but we must know that we are walking in a minefield, where we must be extremely cautious and vigilant. In fact, it has always been a minefield, but it’s another thing that the density of the mines increases gradually, which we witnessed last year in autumn. Unfortunately, the war had a difficult, even catastrophic course for us, but Armenia, the Armenian people, the people of Artsakh show an exceptional resistance, and that’s very important. We need concetration of efforts to solve the problems set before us, and I define its culmination as a necessity and imperative to open a peaceful era. On this path, it’s important to analyze the previous period and make correct conclusions”.

The Prime Minister noted that the election campaign contained such a component. There have been a lot of talks about what happened, but there are nuances that have not been talked about. The Head of the Government highlighted the analysis of the past thirty years, expressing hope that, as a result, it will be possible to open a new page for the history of Armenia, which will be much more positive.

Afterwards, Nikol Pashinyan answered the questions of those present, in the framework of which he referred to the creation of new jobs in Armenia, the priorities of the Government, the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the relations with Iran.

The Prime Minister noted that next year the Government plans to implement capital programs of unprecedented scale worth 350 billion drams, which in turn will create new jobs. The construction of the North-South highway will continue in full swing, several hundred schools and kindergartens will be built or renovated in the country in the next five years, and the works aimed at the development of tourism will continue. "Our task is to create the necessary conditions for people to improve their own well-being with their creative abilities," the Prime Minister said.

Nikol Pashinyan reminded that for the first time in the last two decades the Republic of Armenia has a stake in Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine, the largest mining company. “We hope that the share of the state will increase over time. This is not just a sale or purchase of shares, but a large investment project that will be implemented by a private company with the support of the Government. Today, when we examine the structure of Armenia's exports, we will see that a huge part of it is just a concentrate, which is mainly exported to the European Union, where copper is smelted. We want a copper smelter to be created in Armenia, which means creation of thousands of jobs", the Prime Minister said, adding that as a result, copper will be produced in Armenia. "According to various estimates, up to 5,000 jobs will be created in the coming years within the framework of this investment program. This issue is in the center of our daily attention”, Nikol Pashinyan stressed.

According to the Prime Minister, the Government searches partners who will create new jobs and finds them.

Answering the question about the relations with Iran, the Head of the Government said, “We have warm relations with Iran. President Raisi assumed the office in August 2021, and I also assumed my officie in August, following the elections, and we have already met twice. This is a fact showing how much we value our relations. It is not something new that there are certain circles that manage to publish materials in the Iranian press from time to time that Armenia is involved in some conspiracies against Iran. I am confident that our Iranian partners know that the Republic of Armenia has never been and will never be involved in any conspiracy against Iran, because we extremely value those relations and we will never forget that Iran was the “path of life” for Armenia in the early 90s. This is such a firm ground for our relations that rules out any involvement of Armenia in any anti-Iran conspiracy․

It's another thing that the economic relations between the two countries are hampered by economic sanctions. Not only Armenia, but many other countries in that world have no opportunity to bypass this reality. Armenia will never be involved in any conspiracy against Iran and that’s so obvious that there is no need to even talk about that. Just the opposite, we have major projects with Iran. During our discussions with Mr. Raisi we suggested that they should be accelerated, particularly, the 3rd high-voltage power transmission line is under construction, which is constructed by an Iranian company, and we ask them to do it as soon as possible. We hope to prolong “gas for electriciy’’ contract in the future. During the meetings I also suggested that we should return to the issue of the construction of Meghri reservoir and HPP, which I think is very important not only in terms of energy, but also in terms of joint management of water resources’’, Nikol Pashinyan said.

The PM emphasized that in the recent period a long-lasting problem related to Iran has been resolved, which was about the emissions of Agarak copper-molybdenum combine into Aras river. “The issue was constantly raised, and I am glad to note that it has been resolved, because the plant has switched to a closed cycle and does not emit emissions. "GeoProMining”, in the person of which we have a partner, responded to the Government's calls, which allowed us to deepen relations with them’’, the Head of the Government said.

Answering the question of one of those present, Prime Minister Pashinyan reaffirmed his readiness to meet with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, touched upon the issue of returning the hostages and providing maps of minefields.

“Look, the President of Azerbaijan announced that he is ready to meet with me. Let me say that I had said back in July that we are ready to meet on both high and highest levels, which means we are ready to meet on the foreign ministerial and prime minister-president levels. In my recent speech at the UN General Assembly I said that the Nagorno Karabakh issue awaits its resolution and I can say that for several times already we have welcomed the statements by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs where for several times they’ve noted the need for resolving the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and restoring the peace process for this goal,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

In this context the Prime Minister noted that just like before, he is now also announcing that he is ready to meet with the president of Azerbaijan. “To your specifically mentioned question I can give the following answer: I am ready to take with me to the presumed upcoming meeting the maps which are talked about, and these maps are the ones which do not separate the militaries of Armenia and Azerbaijan from one another, meaning they don’t have a military practical security significance, they rather have only humanitarian significance because they are located behind Azerbaijani military lines.

I am ready to take with me to the meeting all maps we have and I call on the Azerbaijani president to bring with him all captives. Look, the president of Azerbaijan is complaining that the quality of the maps which we’ve transferred in the past is poor. Look, let’s make two records: first, we gave the maps which we had, meaning it’s not like we’ve kept the good quality maps in the drawer and gave them the bad ones. I do not rule out and I know that there is an issue with the quality of maps, why? Because the quality of the map depends on the quality of the cartographer, their professional skills, we have what they drew. And here we are honest, open, and we don’t have intentions to deceive anyone, because this isn’t only about Azerbaijan, but also our mediator partners, who are our friendly countries, our colleagues. It wouldn’t be honorable to try and do something in another way in that situation.

We gave the maps we had, we don’t have other ones, I mean in terms of the terrain which we’ve already transferred. This is a fact, this must be noted as reality. As refers to trust, it is clear that Azerbaijan doesn’t trust us in this situation, we don’t trust Azerbaijan and the whole issue is for us to try and move forward with small steps in a way to develop some kind of trust. This trust is important so that we are able to solve also humanitarian issues swiftly, and return our captive brothers to their families as soon as possible,” Prime Minister Pashinyan said.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister also touched upon the strengthening of Armenia-Diaspora ties, separate directions of the Armenian Government's activities and other issues.

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An official dinner was given in honor of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on behalf of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonytė.