YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — A delegation of France’s Armed Forces Ministry has visited Armenia to explore the possibility of deepening military ties between the two states.
French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced the trip late last month after meeting with Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan in Paris in the wake of the September 13-14 fighting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. He said that the delegation will “assess the situation” on the ground.
The two ministers met the day after France’s President Emmanuel Macron received Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Paris. Macron blamed Azerbaijan for the hostilities and said Azerbaijani forces must “return to their initial positions.”
The French defense officials on Thursday, October 27, held separate talks with Papikyan and Major-General Eduard Asrian, the chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff. The Armenian Defense Ministry said that they discussed the implementation of “understandings” reached during Papikyan’s trip to France. It did not give any details.
The delegation headed by Guillaume Ollagnier, a senior official at the French ministry’s Directorate General of International Relations and Strategy, met with Armenia’s High-Technology Minister Robert Khachatryan on Wednesday.
Khachatryan’s press office said they discussed “possible cooperation in the research-and-scientific and a number of other spheres.” It did not elaborate.
