YEREVAN. – Strengthening the resistance in Armenia's southern regions is part of the EU's 2.6bn-euro assistance program. Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia stated this at Saturday’s joint news conference with visiting European Council President Charles Michel.

"Projects initially worth 80 million euros are planned to be implemented there. It is about the development of various new agricultural infrastructures. There are problems regarding access to water, pastures, there are infrastructure problems there. We believe that the southern regions [of Armenia] have a great potential for tourism in particular, and assistance should be provided in this sector as well.

The next direction is the North-South [highway] project. We will soon announce a tender for the [construction of its] Sisian-Agarak section where there are tunnels and bridges. Moreover, this will be an unprecedented amount of construction, and the EU is ready to provide 600 million euros in assistance here," Pashinyan added.