Armenia and the European Union hope to negotiate in the coming months a comprehensive agreement to deepen political and economic relations, said Wednesday the office of President Serzh Sargsyan.
Sargsyan discussed the issue with Herbert Salber, EU special envoy for the South Caucasus at a meeting in Yerevan. According to the presidential press service, Sarkisian and Salber agreed that the relations of Armenia with the block of the 28-nations have a “dynamic development.”
“The interlocutors expressed hope that negotiations on the new framework agreement EU-Armenia will be successfully concluded in the coming months,” said presidential press service said in a statement.
The new agreement will serve as an alternative to an association agreement negotiated by Yerevan and Brussels in the summer of 2013. Sargsyan prevented the signing of this major agreement unexpectedly in September 2013 to seek membership of Armenia an alliance of states of the former Soviet Union, led by Russia.
The replacement agreement should contain many political and even economic provisions, common with the Association Agreement canceled. But it will be no component related to free trade because of the accession of Armenia to the Eurasian Economic Union.
The négocations this agreement officially started in Brussels last December.
Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan and several other senior Armenian government officials discussed the progress in these discussions at a meeting in Yerevan late last week. A statement from Abrahamian government asked them to ensure the effective conduct of the negotiation process. The agreement “lay a solid foundation” for closer ties between Armenia and the EU.
Statements of official Armenian sources have suggested that Salber meetings with Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian focused on international efforts to end the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian President had informed the envoy of the EU on the next steps in the peace process provided by Armenia and the United States, Russia and French mediators. He also praised the EU’s efforts to create a “favorable atmosphere” for a settlement of Karabakh.
The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict was also the priority of the agenda of the previous Salber travel to Yerevan, which took place two months ago.
Claire © armenews.com