The first round of the EU-Armenia negotiations on trade and investment issues was launched in a bid to form a new legal basis for bilateral ties, Armenia's Ministry of Economy said Tuesday, February 16.

At the talks, the Armenian delegation was headed by First Deputy Minister of Economy Garegin Melkonyan. The delegation also included representatives of the Ministries of Economy, Justice, Finance, Labor and Social Affairs, the Central Bank, as well as other organizations.

The European delegation was led by Petros Sourmelis, Head of Unit Trade aspects of European neighborhood policy. Trade relations with countries of the CIS and Balkans, Russia, CIS, Ukraine, Western Balkan, EFTA, EEA, Turkey and Central Asia, the European Commission Directorate-General for Trade (DG TRADE).

The negotiations are held in areas previously clarified with the European side, including trade of goods and services, trade protection measures, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, intellectual property rights, competition, public procurement, sustainable development, transparency, current payments and movement of capital, investment cooperation and protection, dispute settlements, etc.

In the first round of negotiations, besides the plenary session, more than 12 meetings of the negotiating subgroups are being scheduled to address the draft texts of the corresponding directions.