Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday met with Moldovan President Igor Dodon, who has arrived in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan to participate in the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

“I’m happy to welcome you in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia,” Pashinyan said to Dodon. “We have met quite often in the last year and have developed very warm relations. I hope and am sure that these relations will also be very useful for the relations between our countries, and I’m very happy to have such an opportunity to discuss with you further development of our relations. We must work to strengthen our trade and economic, political ties. I believe there are really such opportunities today that just need to be utilized. Our cooperation opens new opportunities, especially within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union, and I’m sure that if we really work, we will have concrete results.”

“First of all, I’m very happy to be in Yerevan again,” Moldovan President Igor Dodon said, for his part. “I’ve been in Yerevan for the third time in the last 2.5 years. We hope you will pay your first official visit to the Republic of Moldova in the near future. I would like to invite you to Moldova once again. You know that there are traditionally very good, friendly relations between our countries, in all directions. Of course, we would like to move forward faster in terms of the level of trade. In this regard, it’s possible to organize a meeting of the Armenian-Moldovan Intergovernmental Commission in parallel with your visit, [and] which hasn’t been convened for a long time. We are now confirming the makeup of the Moldovan side of the intergovernmental commission; that’s why, I hope that your official visit and the meeting of the intergovernmental commission will take place early next year.

“I would like to thank for assisting Moldova in obtaining the status of observer country in the EAEU. On May 14 last year, Moldova became the first country to receive observer status in the EAEU. For us, this is a very interesting, promising platform. As an observer country, we attend all meetings at the presidential level, my colleagues, representatives of the presidential staff are participating. I believe we have a very major, good potential in this direction. (…). And I also hope that our bilateral relations will rise to another level, both after my visit and your official visit.”

Nikol Pashinyan noted that, in fact, the specific dates of his official visit to Moldova have already been set, and now work should be done to develop an effective agenda. Also, the Armenian PM welcomed the political stability in Moldova, which, as per the premier, will contribute to the country’s progress and development of cooperation with partner countries.

Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Dodon discussed opportunities for the development of cooperation between Armenia and Moldova. The interlocutors exchanged views also on conflict settlement. In this connection, they reflected on the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict, as well as to the situation regarding Transnistria. The parties stressed the importance of peaceful resolution of conflicts—and in the context of regional stability, security, and development—and expressed mutual assistance in this process.