Armenia’s justice minister hosts Swedish, Polish and Lithuanian ambassadors

Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan on Friday received the Swedish, Polish and Lithuanian ambassadors to Armenia to discuss measures dealing with proportionate response to fundamental human rights issues.

Thanking the minister, on behalf of his colleagues, for the opportunity of the meeting, Swedish Ambassador atrick Svensson appreciated the existing great opportunities for developing cooperation on democracy and human rights. “We are assisting in the reforms outlined by Armenia after the velvet revolution to ensure the development of human rights, justice and legal reforms and the strengthening of rule of law and democracy,” he said, expressing also the willingness to deepen the cooperation.

Lithuanian Ambassador Inga Stanytė-Toločkienė appreciated the Ministry as a champion of justice reforms, stressing the importance of continuing the processes despite the tragedy of the Nagorno-Karabakh war and "the not quite favorable realities” of 2020.  She also offered her congratulations to the Armenian government for the progress recorded in the Transparency International's  2020 Corruption Perceptions Index. “We are ready to intensify our cooperation for steadily moving ahead with the reforms initiated two years ago,” he said. 

Joining his colleagues’ remarks, the ambassador of Poland, Mr. Paweł Cieplak, was interested in the planned activities of creatingn anti-corruption agencies and a Ministry of Interior. 

According to a press release by the Ministry of Justice, the sides also considered the immediate repatriation of the Armenian captives from Azerbaijan and the activities aiming to ensure proportionate response procedures. 

Thanking the ambassadors for the positive evaluations, Minister Badasyan elaborated on the ongoing anti-corruption and police reforms. In that context, he prioritized the €30 million worth EU assistance to Armenia, noting that €9 million of the assigned sum has been already provided. 

At the end, the sides agreed on future steps towards deepening the cooperation on further reforms.