YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, ARMENPRESS.  US President's National Security Advisor John Bolton describes Armenia as an important friend of USA in the region. ARMENPRESS reports Bolton tweeted about his visit to Armenia.

“Yesterday I had a nice visit to Armenia, an important friend in the region. I enjoyed productive conversations with the Prime Minister and his national security team”, he wrote.

Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received US President Donald Trump’s national security advisor John Bolton and his delegation on October 25.

Pashinyan said at the meeting, “I am happy to host such a high-level delegation, which is historical for Armenia. It’s very important to have high-level contacts with the US, and our government attaches importance to the Armenian-American active dialogue and close cooperation”. The acting PM touched upon the ongoing political events in Armenia and stated that now the country is facing a historical period. “The processes, which are taking place as a result of the peaceful, velvet revolution of love and solidarity, are based exclusively on democratic values. Now we are working on creating and strengthening sustainable and institutional democratic state”, Nikol Pashinyan said, attaching importance to the democracy development in Armenia, strengthening of transparent public administration system, independent judiciary as a result of effective cooperation with international partners. Pashinyan noted that Armenia decisively moves on the path of democracy development which is an internal belief and value for the Armenian society.

John Bolton thanked for the reception and conveyed to Pashinyan the warm greetings of US President Donald Trump. The US official said at this important historical period for Armenia they attach importance to the development and deepening of the Armenian-American relations. “I am happy to discuss with you the wide range of bilateral and regional issues concerning the Armenian-American ties. Congratulations on successfully guiding the peaceful democratic transition in Armenia. The United States supports the efforts of the new government aimed at fighting corruption, raising the transparency degree of the judiciary and increasing the accountability of the government before the citizens with steps which will lead to strengthening democracy, rule of law and regional stability”, John Bolton said.

The officials discussed a number of agenda issues of the bilateral relations. In particular, they touched upon issues of cooperation in the directions of development of democratic institutions, economy, justice system, civil society. In this regard, Nikol Pashinyan and John Bolton highlighted the necessity to make such high-level mutual visits more frequent.

The officials also exchanged views on the settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Both highlighted taking consistent steps aimed at peacefully settling the conflict within the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship format, and forming a respective atmosphere for the negotiation process.

Bolton told the reporters in Armenia that relations with Armenia are very important for the USA. Referring to NK conflict settlement, Bolton said that the settlement of the conflict stems not only from the interests of Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also the USA.  

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan