President Michel wished Ambassador Balayan a successful tenure, stressing the importance of the initiatives aimed at promoting Armenia-European Union partnership and reiterated his support for them.

Tigran Balayan expressed his gratitude for the kind wishes and noted that Armenia is determined to make every possible effort in order to upgrade the partnership with the European Union and its member states to a qualitatively new level.

While expressing Armenia’s appreciation to President Michel and stressing the importance of EUCO’s President’s personal efforts for the establishment of peace in the South Caucasus, the Ambassador also emphasized that the flagrant violations of the agreements reached within the Brussels format by Azerbaijan and the lack of adequate consequences ultimately led to the complete ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh. It is therefore necessary to take steps in order to ensure Azerbaijan’s full compliance with the legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice and Baku’s return to the negotiating table.

The Ambassador informed President Michel about Azerbaijan’s escalating claims against the sovereign territory of Armenia and Baku’s continuous attempts to derail the peace process, including the true reasons for not showing up at the negotiations in Granada and the talks envisaged to take place in Brussels.

The sides also exchanged views on the possibilities of the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the unblocking of communications and roads. In this context Ambassador Balayan presented the “Crossroads of Peace” project of the Government of Armenia and highlighted the importance of its inclusion in the EU’s “Global Gateway” initiative․

In conclusion of the meeting, President Michel asked to convey his greetings and best wishes to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Vahagn Khachaturyan․