Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with the President of the Republic of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan on 3 November.
This was reported by the Government of the Republic of Armenia, detailing that Nikol Pashinyan noted in his remarks.
«Your Excellency the President of the Republic of Artsakh, I welcome you and am glad to see you in the capital of the Republic of Armenia.
The first anniversary of the end of the 44-day war is approaching. Of course, this work has never ceased during this period, but I believe it is important, on the occasion of the anniversary, to also analyse the work we have done and assess the situation during this time. And today, during our meeting, we will discuss these issues.
It is important to note that during this period, the government of Artsakh, together with the government of the Republic of Armenia, has succeeded in carrying out very concrete work towards the restoration of normal life in Artsakh. Of course, we do not consider what has been done to be satisfactory, and we must naturally continue working in that direction, replacing mere assistance programmes with development programmes, as we have said on numerous occasions.
Of course, it is also important that we hold discussions, and we are doing so at the working level as well, regarding our future vision for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We consider it important that the full-fledged negotiation process be restored within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship, where, as the co-chairs have also emphasised on several occasions, the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict takes place on the basis of the well-known principles, including the right of peoples to self-determination, with a final and comprehensive settlement and the clarification of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.
All these issues are permanently on our joint working agenda, and today as well we will have more detailed discussions on these topics. I welcome you once again and am glad to see you»:
Arayik Harutyunyan, for his part, noted.
«Your Excellency Mr. Prime Minister, first of all, thank you for the meeting. In fact, a year has already passed, and what have we managed to do, what have we recorded? First of all, that we have not deviated from the path of the political settlement of Artsakh, and we continue to uphold the right of Artsakh to self-determination as the main direction of a political settlement, and the international players, including the OSCE Minsk Group, continue to act as a mediator, and the right of peoples to self-determination is also laid as the foundation on the agenda for the resolution of the Karabakh issue.
Secondly, I want to note that as a result of the extensive work already carried out, we are reaping the first fruits, and within just a matter of days, by the end of the year, we will hand over at least 300 apartments for use in the city of Stepanakert alone. We are talking about newly built apartments. Of course, part of them are constructions that began before the war, but apart from that, we have managed to lay the foundations of thousands of apartments today, and by the end of next year we will have completed at least 2,500-3,000 apartments. First of all, within the framework of the funds provided to Artsakh by the government of Armenia — of course, the funds are provided not only for construction, but also for carrying out the normal life of Artsakh and social programmes — and with the funds raised by the “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund, for the implementation of various programmes, housing construction and infrastructure projects. That is, the first 300 families will have their own hearth by the end of this year, before the New Year, and that is the most important thing in terms of solving the demographic problem of Artsakh.
I also want to express my gratitude that in the 2022 state budget of Armenia a fairly large amount has been reflected, which will allow us, together with the funds entered into the account of the economy being restored by Artsakh, to solve all the problems. In a short period of time — within 2-3 years — I am convinced we will completely solve the housing and remaining necessary infrastructure and social problems.
I want to note that the various structures of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh are cooperating quite actively, responding promptly to all our issues. Any issue raised — social, infrastructural, or other — receives a solution, and today the normal life that exists in Artsakh is mainly conditioned by the allocation of funds by the government of Armenia and the attention and daily work that takes place»:
