On December 14, the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with Foreign Ministers of Poland, Sweden and Bulgaria Radosław Sikorski, Carl Bildt and Nickolay Mladenov.

Welcoming the guests, Minister Nalbandian mentioned that Armenia has centuries-old traditional friendly relations with Poland, Sweden and Bulgaria, and now there is an effective cooperation at both bilateral and multilateral levels. Minister Nalbandian stressed the importance of the cooperation in the frames of the Eastern Partnership initiative.

During the meeting, the sides touched upon the extensive agenda of the cooperation between Armenia and the European Union, registered the existence of a quite good progress in a number of directions and reaffirmed the intention of deepening and developing the interaction within the Eastern Partnership.

The importance to exert efforts towards the finalization of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement was mutually stressed, including the negotiations over the creation of a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area until the Eastern Partnership Summit, to be held in November of 2013 in Vilnius.

The sides expressed satisfaction with the successful completion of the negotiations over the visa facilitation by the EU which is expected to be signed during the next few days.

Minister Nalbandian emphasized Armenia’s commitment to continue the large-scale reforms in line with European standards.

A number of global and regional issues were on the agenda of the talk. In particular, the sides exchanged views on the situation in Syria and Syrian Armenians.

Minister Nalbandian presented his counterparts the recent developments in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, as well as the steps undertaken by Armenia and the international community towards that direction.

A joint press conference followed the meeting of the Foreign Ministers.