On April 11, the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia ratified the “Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between the Republic of Armenia, of the one part and the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the other part’’ by a unanimous vote.

This was preceded by the April 9 deliberations on the Draft Law of the Republic of Armenia on ratification of the mentioned agreement at the joint session of the Standing Committees on Foreign Relations and European Integration of Armenia’s National Assembly. On April 10, the Draft Law on CEPA ratification was discussed at the plenary session of the parliament, where the main rapporteur was Deputy Foreign Minister Garen Nazarian.

Garen Nazarian presented the essence, purposes, content and structure of the new Armenia-EU agreement, noting that it raises to a new level the Armenia-EU relations, which are based on common values and close ties. Deputy Minister added that the Agreement regulates the Armenia-EU dialogue in the political and economic spheres, the sectoral cooperation and trade relations.

Garen Nazarian also presented the institutional framework to be established under the Agreement, stressing that namely the Partnership Council - the highest political body at ministerial level - will monitor and assess the implementation of the Agreement.

Deputy Minister also highlighted the importance of the establishment of the parliamentary oversight mechanism under the Agreement - the Parliamentary Partnership Committee - which will be comprised of members of the National Assembly of Armenia and the European Parliament. Garen Nazarian particularly touched upon one of the innovations of the Agreement - the creation of Civil Society Platform, which will consist of civil society representatives from Armenia and the EU and will function on the basis of transparency, inclusiveness and rotation principles.

In response to numerous questions of the members of parliament, the Deputy Minister provided a detailed outline of all the areas and the appropriate toolkit, by which the Agreement can bring benefits to the Armenian businessmen, scientists, inventors, taxpayers, consumers and, in general, to the citizens of Armenia. He particularly noted that the implementation of the Agreement will create favorable conditions for the promotion of Armenia's business environment and investments, expand the capacities of the Armenian companies in the area of trade in services, contribute to raising the efficiency of combating corruption, strengthening the system of protection of intellectual property rights, strengthening the principles of competition, updating regulations of labour legislation, and enhance the opportunities for participation of Armenian universities in research projects under the largest EU research and innovation "HORIZON 2020" programme and "EU4Innovation" initiative.

The Deputy Minister also touched upon the commitment of the European Union to launch the process of visa liberalization with Armenia.

In his final remarks, Garen Nazarian highlighted the importance of everyone’s engagement in the ratification and implementation of the Agreement and the shared ownership towards those processes, since the consistent implementation of the provisions of the document is related to the long-term and sustainable development of Armenia and its citizens.