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The American-Armenian relations are a key priority and of strategic importance for Washington, US President Donald Trump's National Security Advisor John Bolton told reporters in Yerevan on Thursday.
Speaking at a news conference at the US Embassy, the official noted that he is the first American national security advisor to visit Armenia since 1997. 

The US official arrived in Yerevan on Thursday night as part of a scheduled trip to the South Caucasus region, after visiting Russia and Azerbaijan.

Earlier today, Bolton held talks with Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Secretary of the National Security Council Armen Grigoryan, and the acting defense and foreign ministers, with his meeting with Pashinyan lasting for an hour and 20 minutes.

“I stressed the prime minister and the others that the US-Armenian relations are a top priority and strategically important for the United States,” he said. “ We would be eager to help out the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict both through our continuing role as the co-chair of the Minsk Group, but also in any way we can behind the scenes, because, I think, the resolution of the conflict would obviously benefit not only Armenia and Azerbaijan, we think it would be in the best interests of the United States.” 

Bolton said today’s meetings touched upon the talks he had in Russia on Monday and Tuesday, the US sanctions on Iran, as well as the general circumstances in the region, including the conflict in Syria and Iraq.

“We talked about potential increase in the US-Armenian economic interchanges, the importance of finding ways to encourage more direct American investment in Armenia, and generally strengthening US-Armenian relations,” he said.