YEREVAN, April 15 The Armenian side did not conduct substantive and technical negotiations with the UK on sending illegal migrants to Armenia, said press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic Ani Badalyan.
Earlier, the Times newspaper, citing a leak from the British Foreign Office, reported that the British Foreign Office entered into negotiations with representatives of Armenia, Côte d'Ivoire, Costa Rica and Botswana to conclude an agreement similar to the agreement between the UK and Rwanda on deportations there refugees while their asylum claims are being processed.
““Armenia and Great Britain have a broad agenda of political dialogue, but there have been no substantive or technical negotiations on the issue raised in a specific publication,” Badalyan said, answering a corresponding question from the agency.
The Times previously noted that the contents of these documents are related to the work of the British government over the past 18 months to find countries that may be interested in repeating the Rwandan scheme, the essence of which was discussed above. Working with these four countries, as noted, requires priority attention from Britain. It is also reported that progress on negotiations with Armenia, Ivory Coast, Costa Rica and Botswana has stalled due to ongoing problems with the Rwandan agreement, but the government hopes talks can resume once the Rwandan scheme is up and running.