YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, ARMENPRESS.  The Government of Armenia must be able to effectively implement the reform agenda, therefore, the ball is in the field of the Government of Armenia, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said during the joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, answering the question if the EU will increase the assistance to Armenia, correspondent of ARMENPRESS reports from Germany.

“The ball is in the field of the Government of Armenia. The recent visit of Commissioner Johannes Hahn clearly answered the question of increasing the EU assistance to Armenia. The EU representatives have already informed that they are ready to expand the assistance to Armenia”, Pashinyan said, adding that it’s obvious that good relations between Armenia and the EU, as well as Armenia and the EU Member States have been established.

Pashinyan noted that important democratic developments are taking place in Armenia. According to him, there are no doubts that those developments will continue.

“These democratic developments will be continuous irrespective of the existence or absence of the assistance, as I have said in the past, because democracy is the choice of our people, value system”, the Armenian PM said.  

Nikol Pashinyan noted that Armenia has open relations with the EAEU and EU partners.

“We must be able to effectively implement our reform agenda, with the confidence that we will receive assistance both from our EU partners and EAEU partners”, Pashinyan added.

To the question if Berlin plans to increase assistance to Armenia, Angela Merkel answered, “We already support Armenia. The EU has already expressed its support through Commissioner Hahn. Armenia, as an independent country, decides on its own with which country to work. And we already have an agreement, I am about the agreement with the EU, by which Armenia can develop relations with Germany and the EU”.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan