Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan held a meeting within the government with the President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan. It is the first since the snap parliamentary elections and since Nikol Pashinyan’s working visit to Russia on 7 July.
The Prime Minister’s Office reported that Nikol Pashinyan noted in his remarks: «I consider it very important to emphasise that also during the pre-election period I clearly formulated the thorough examination of all the circumstances of the 44-day war, and it is important that we be able to formulate such a format and organise the work in such a way that this work is trustworthy, because answers to very important questions must be formulated».
Pashinyan emphasised that after the 44-day war quite serious efforts have been made to restore normal life in Artsakh.
The Acting Prime Minister also emphasised that on the agenda «the question of questions continues to remain the problem of clarifying the status of Artsakh».
«And we must record that after 9 November the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group have issued a statement, in essence, recording that agenda as a working agenda. And we, too, must clarify our tasks here, try to adopt a certain strategy in the new situation and point out the ways to achieve our goals», emphasised Pashinyan.
The President of Artsakh for his part recorded: «Today social policy allows us to state with confidence that there is no family that has not been at the centre of attention, and unquestionably all of that is solely and exclusively thanks to the funds allocated by the government of Armenia. And the funds collected by the “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund have already begun to be directed to housing construction and the development of infrastructure. Today Artsakh is one big construction site. The programmes must continue, and first of all housing construction, which is our main problem. Today the housing problem in Artsakh is so acute that even building one house a day is not enough. To implement our programmes we must reach the point of building at least 4-5 houses a day. We want to present that programme to the Armenian people so that every Armenian participates in housing construction programmes in the coming years», added the President of Artsakh.
Arayik Harutyunyan also emphasised that Artsakh’s most important problem is the problem of security and status.
«And, fortunately, in terms of status the principle has not undergone any agenda change by the OSCE Minsk Group from what it was before the war. We must strive for it to remain on the agenda. All your statements, our statements, that the path of Artsakh’s independence is not subject to discussion, testify to the fact that we must continue our struggle. And in terms of security, I want to assure you that the situation is jointly controlled by the Defence Army and the peacekeeping forces. The geography is in fact difficult, but, fortunately, there has been no serious cause for concern. Today the harvest is underway, there is no problem or obstacle. Work on the restoration of infrastructure is also underway right along today’s line of contact», said Harutyunyan.
