The European Union will allocate 270 million euros, while the US will provide $65 million in assistance package to bolster “Armenia’s resilience” amid efforts to boost partnership between the South Caucasus republic and the West.

This was decided during the much-anticipated meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, European Council President Ursula von der Leyen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken held in Brussels on Friday.

“We’re delivering on a promise we made last October, the promise to stand shoulder to shoulder by Armenia, with Armenia – and at the same time the promise to set a vision for the future of our partnership.  And this is what we are going to be discussing today,” von der Leyen said. “This vision will be underpinned on the European Union side by a resilience and growth plan for Armenia – 270 million euros in grants over the next four years.  We will invest in making the Armenian economy and society more robust and resistant to shocks.  We will support your businesses, your talents, in particular your small and medium enterprises, so that we can help them to grow, to innovate, and to access new markets,” she added.

Furthermore, she hailed Armenia’s efforts to avoid the circumvention of Western sanctions against Russia, in particular with regards to delivery of lethal equipment and technologies to Russia.

“We are here to reaffirm transatlantic support for a democratic, prosperous future for the Armenian people – and a more integrated and a more peaceful South Caucasus region.  We share the Armenian peoples’ vision for the future,” Secretary Blinken said while addressing the meeting.

Both Blinken and von der Leyen expressed their commitment to provide humanitarian aid to around 100,000 Amenians displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh after the region’s surrender to Azerbaijan in September last year.

In turn, PM Pashinyan said the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms underpin the cooperation between Armenia and the West. He also reiterated his earlier comment about normalization of ties with Azerbaijan based on mutual recognition of each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in accordance with the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991.

Meanwhile, EU’s foreign affairs chief, Joseph Borrell said that Friday’s meeting was aimed “to take the “partnership to the next level, together with our American friends, joining forces to demonstrate our strong commitment to Armenia’s sovereignty, democracy, and resilience.”

It should be noted that the meeting in Brussels had caused concerns in Baku. State Secretary Blinken told Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in a phone conversation last week that the meeting was not aimed against Azerbaijan.