BRUSSELS, JULY 12, ARMENPRESS. Latvia is Armenia’s friend, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told President Raimonds Vējonis during a bilateral meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, ARMENPRESS’s Araks Kasyan reported.

The Armenian prime minister and the Latvian president discussed the development of the Armenian-Latvian relations.

Nikol Pashinyan expressed hope that the democratic changes of Armenia will bring the countries even closer. “We also expect the EU’s assistance on this path to make our country stronger,” he said.

Speaking about the latest actions of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno Karabakh line of contact and the Armenian border, Pashinyan said: “Azerbaijan continues its conduct of escalating the situation in the line of contact because this country’s president fears that the Armenian democratic processes could also reach Azerbaijan.”

The Armenian PM emphasized that Armenia is committed to the negotiations process implemented at the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, and added that any military attempt to settle the conflict must be viewed as an encroachment against democracy.

Pashinyan said a strong response of the international community is required to the escalation attempts by Azerbaijan in the line of contact.

He stressed that the actions of the Armenian government are aimed at strengthening democracy, and that the Armenian government are planning to hold free, fair and transparent elections soon.

Latvia is one of the first countries which ratified the CEPA between Armenia and the European Union.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan