17:21,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly, the Prime Minister's Office said in a readout.

In his welcoming speech, Prime Minister Pashinyan specifically stated: "Dear minister, dear friends, I welcome you to our country. Let me first express my satisfaction with the opening of the Canadian Embassy in our country, which I believe is a truly remarkable event for our bilateral relations. In particular, we will now have a resident ambassador, which means we will have a constant dialogue. This is very important, especially in the current circumstances.

It is very important to state that this is the result of a series of conversations, visits. I recall that the conversation about this started in 2018, when Prime Minister Trudeau visited us, during which we had a conversation, after which special representative Dion visited us, after which the report on supporting Armenia democracy was issued.

Of course, we greatly appreciate your personal imput and efforts. Welcome to Armenia".

In turn, Mélanie Joly thanked the Prime Minister for the warm reception and noted: "I am convinced that Mr. Prime Minister from Ottawa is celebrating the opening of the embassy together with us in his thoughts and heart. We are happy to have the first ambassador in Armenia who knows Armenia well, because he has been working over the question of Armenia for a long time in the foreign department. And he is also a close friend of your fantastic ambassador to our country, who is also with us now.

We are coming to you in a period that we know is quite difficult for Armenia. We have been following the events of September 19-20, and of course, our goal is to help Armenia to deal with this difficult situation, to help also to bring more peace and stability to the region. We are doing this by first of all engaging in the EU mission, we are the only country outside the EU participating in the EU mission. This is the first step in ensuring greater engagement in Armenia.

Today we announced more funding for EU humanitarian assistance to deal with the fact that such a large number of ethnic Armenians had to flee Nagorno Karabakh. We support the efforts of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross." The Canadian Foreign Minister added that she will visit the south of Armenia tomorrow to meet the local authorities and the affected Armenians.

Nikol Pashinyan referred to the forced deportation of more than 100,000 of our compatriots from Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of Azerbaijan's ethnic cleansing policy and the resulting humanitarian situation, emphasizing in this context the importance of international support in solving the existing problems.

The interlocutors discussed issues related to the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, the possibilities of unblocking regional transport infrastructures based on the principles of territorial integrity, sovereignty, jurisdiction and reciprocity, as well as peace and stability in the region.

The sides exchanged ideas on issues of Armenia-Canada cooperation agenda.