EU-Armenia Partnership Council: Press remarks by High Representative Kaja Kallas

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Good day, everybody. 

Dear Minister, Dear Ararat, 

Thank you for being here in Brussels.  

Today we had very good discussions on many different areas, EU and Armenia cooperation is only getting better with age.  

Today, we adopted a new strategic agenda for the EU-Armenia partnership, and this is a shared ambition to work on many more areas together. This includes your own reforms, including strengthening the rule of law, diversifying and modernising the Armenian economy, but also cooperation regarding visa liberalisation and security, for example.  

We will also have a meeting together with the 27 Foreign Ministers already in December, so I am glad to welcome you back then. Then, our focus will be on Armenia's resilience and electoral integrity and how we can work together to strengthen both, as you have also elections upcoming. In short, 2025 has been a pivotal year for EU-Armenia relations. But of course, also for you, your country itself has been an important year. The initialisation of the agreements reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan in August were a real breakthrough. 

They ended the years-long conflict between your countries, and you have the European Union's full support. This is an opportunity for progress, and the European Union will do everything to be there for you. 

Today, I am pleased to announce €15 million towards sustaining peace and a more resilient Armenia. This will fund a variety of initiatives, including demining training and equipment, as well as regional confidence-building measures. In parallel, Armenia, of course, faces other challenges. Russia and its proxies are already ramping up disinformation campaigns in Armenia ahead of the next year's parliamentary election. We see the same networks that we saw deployed in Moldova that were active, so the playbook is identical. 

Our EU funding will also cover detection, analysis and response to foreign interference. Marta can also go into more detail on that. 

What more can the European Union do in order to support Armenia in this regard. As we learned in Moldova, countering foreign interference requires the whole of society approach. And we were happy to hear from you as well that this is the case in Armenia. An active civil society and free independent media are really essential.  

Let us be clear: you are not facing these challenges alone. We are here to provide active support. 

So, dear Ararat, thank you for being here with us today and thank you for the discussions. I am really looking forward to also hosting you in Brussels in December.