YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — France and Armenia are planning to cement their close ties with a document on “strategic partnership,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said during a visit to Yerevan on Monday, May 26.
French-Armenian relations are already “very largely strategic,” Barrot said after talks with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan. He gave concrete examples of that, including bilateral military cooperation.
“Together with my colleague Ararat, we are going to put all this to paper, preparing a document on strategic partnership which will further formalize the existing relations, and also mapping out other programs, including in the area of defense, for the years and decades to come,” he told a joint news conference.
Mirzoyan confirmed plans for such an agreement. But he too did not go into its details.
“My visit today is an opportunity to underline France’s support for Armenia, for its future and its place and integration in the region,” Barrot told Mirzoyan at the start of their talks.
The top Armenian and French diplomats spoke at an international security forum in the Armenian capital later in the day.
