YEREVAN, May 6. /TASS/. Armenia and France have agreed to develop defense cooperation by strengthening interaction through the industrial sector, according to a strategic partnership document signed on May 5 in Yerevan by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The document emphasized that Yerevan and Paris will expand partnership in the fields of security, defense, military education, as well as military-technical and military-technological cooperation.

"Armenia and France will implement their defense partnership on a long-term basis, in particular through industrial cooperation in the defense sector aimed at strengthening the defense capabilities of both countries," the document, published on the Armenian prime minister’s website, said. To assess the results of cooperation and identify new avenues for development, the two countries will continue high-level dialogue at the level of the general staffs of their armed forces.

During a meeting of the two countries’ defense ministers on June 17, 2024, France and Armenia signed a contract for Yerevan to purchase Caesar self-propelled artillery systems, which Paris also supplies to Kiev. In the same year, Yerevan and Paris highlighted the importance of military-technical cooperation, reaching new agreements in this area.