‘We hope to launch visa liberalization talks with EU this year’, says Armenia’s PM

Following the 2018 events in Armenia the number of Armenian citizens seeking asylum in the European Union’s territory has declined by nearly 60%, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said at a meeting with the Armenian community representatives of France in Paris.

“Real estate prices in Armenia have recorded a major growth in the past one and a half year. This is a result of the fact that many our compatriots, numerous representatives of the old and new Diaspora are purchasing a real estate in Armenia. And the government’s strategy is the following, especially for the return of new Diaspora representatives to Armenia, to create all conditions, in other words, to view this as a strategic task. If the talks on visa liberalization launch this year, and we hope this will happen, certain time will be required for the final solution. Maybe I will be a little bit mistaken in numbers, but compared to 2016, the emigration trends have declined by nearly 90% in 2018-2019. We are convinced that the emigration trends in us will decline by 100% before we reach solutions on the visa liberalization topic. And we will have a process of immigration as a result. Our citizens will use the institute of visa liberalization not for escaping from Armenia, but as proud citizens of the world to exercise their right to free movement”, the PM said.

He added that they hope to change the image of Armenia, its citizen as a result of the current economic, educational reforms and solve the issue of constantly raising the education level of citizens in the country so that the presence of any citizen of Armenia in the EU space will not have any negative impact on the image of Armenia and its people.

“Armenia should be proud of the Diaspora, and the Diaspora should be proud of Armenia. This is the task we need to solve together, and I am confident that we will definitely solve this issue together”, he said.