Catherine Colonna is to pay a second visit to Armenia on October 3 after the visit on April 28, the diplomatic ministry’s website reports.
She will be hosted by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Then she and her counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan will visit ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh who left the region after Azerbaijan’s military offensive on September 19.
Colonna will reiterate France’s commitment alongside Armenia, as well as support for Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The countries will jointly consider concrete steps to strengthen co-operation in all areas.
The Minister will remind of France’s active contribution to a just and lasting peace in the Caucasus, noting the rights of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Paris will confirm its intentions by tripling the volume of humanitarian aid to Armenia and the population of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The aid, reaching €12.5 million at the start of the year, has increased by a further €7 million following the minister’s announcement on September 27.
The increase in aid is attributed to the efforts of French civil society and local authorities. On 29 September, Armenian authorities received emergency medical aid to assist refugees and victims of a fuel depot explosion in Nagorno-Karabakh on the evening of September 25.
