Commissioner: EU-Armenia relations making progress across the board
EU-Armenia relations are making progress across the board, European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood PolicyStefan Füle said today after the meeting of the Cooperation Council between the European Union and the Republic of Armenia.
"Our political and economic ties our strengthening as we speak,"Füle told a press conference after the meeting, "talks on the association Agreement are progressing well, we are ready to engage on negotiations for a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with Armenia once we have seen sufficient progress in the implementation of European Commission key recommendations, and the European Union has noted the good progress made in this respect."
The Commissioner added: "We are very pleased to see new and ambitious reform efforts from Armenia, bringing together the most important priorities of the EU-Armenia relationship."
The Armenian delegation was led by Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.
A statement issued after the meeting said the Cooperation Council had underlined the need to remain focussed on and speed up the implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy action plan, adding the meeting had provided a good opportunity to review recent political and economic reforms in Armenia. "In this context the Cooperation Council took note of the new and ambitious reform efforts of Armenia, bringing together important priorities of EU-Armenia relations, including preparations for a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, cooperation in the domain of justice, liberty and security as well as democratic reforms. The EU confirmed its readiness to engage with Armenia in an EU-Armenia partnership for reform."
The EU recalled the importance of continuing progress on the matters of democracy, rule of law and human rights, and encouraged Armenia to step up reforms in these fields. The statement added that the EU noted progress in the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Armenia and underlined that these elements are essential components in the bilateral relationship and in the framework of the Eastern Partnership.
The EU also confirmed that negotiations on agreements on visa facilitation and readmission are expected to start at the beginning of next year. The EU also welcomed the signing by Armenia, on 27 October, of a mobility partnership with the EU, as an important step towards the strengthening of people-to- people contacts.
The Cooperation Council also reviewed progress on the settlement of the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict, with EU reaffirming that the status quo was unacceptable and that the solution of this conflict remains a top priority. The EU expressed concern at the increasing number of incidents at the line of contact and called on all sides to reduce tension and abstain from strong rhetoric.
