Question: On Tuesday you will meet in Brussels with the EU-foreign ministers and the ministers from the other countries of the Eastern partnership. What are your expectations of the meeting? What are the most important issues for Armenia?

Answer: Armenia attaches great importance to cooperation with the European Union and its member states. The Eastern Partnership initiative provides a new framework for this relationship through enhanced political dialogue, increased trade opportunities and people-to-people contacts. Another value added of the Eastern Partnership is that it supports cooperation among the partner states, which is can be critical to the overall success of the initiative. At this first Ministerial meeting in the EP format we will take stock of the progress achieved and I look forward to productive discussions with my colleagues on the perspectives of our future cooperation.

Armenia’s relations with the European Union are regulated by the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. The latter was signed in 1996 and entered into force in 1999. Since then the political landscape of Europe has significantly changed, new challenges and opportunities have come into being. The Eastern Partnership not only reflects the progress achieved in  relations between Armenia and the EU in the last decade, but also offers a perspective of Association Agreement, that will adapt our cooperation to the new realities and will take into consideration the aspirations of each partner state and the European Union.


Question:  What are your hopes for the Eastern partnership in short run and long run?

Answer: I think in short term the Eastern Partnership should develop appropriate mechanisms of cooperation and establish the atmosphere of mutual understanding that will be conducive to accomplishing the goals of the initiatives. The Thematic Platforms have made a certain progress this year, and I hope that their working plans will be successfully implemented. It is also important that the partner countries build their capacities so that they can absorb the implications, which derive from the intensive contacts within the Eastern Partnership and can serve the goals of cooperation such as Association Agreement and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement.   


Question: How do you think the EU can benefit from the partnership? How can Armenia benefit?

Answer: Partnership means common set of values, interests, trade and human contacts. The ultimate beneficiaries of this process will be the peoples of Armenia and the European Union, who are united in their diversity, as each of them has different traditions, history and language, but they share the same vision of a Europe based on cooperation, peace and prosperity. They want to trade with each other and to enrich knowledge of each other’s culture. To this end one of our common priorities is facilitating visa arrangements in order to gradually remove obstacles to people-to-peopole between our societies.