Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met with President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy on March 6 during his visit to Brussels, the presidential press office reports.

The Armenian leader congratulated Van Rompuy on his re-election as the EC president and voiced the hope that “during your term of office our relations with the EC will see new success”,

“Today Mr. Rompuy and I touched upon the issues of Armenia-EC cooperation and discussed our further actions. We highlighted the importance of current positive developments in the ties between Armenia and the European Council; we confirmed our commitment to further deepen our cooperation in various fields, including economy, efficient government, democracy, human rights, rule of law and all spheres of public life to implement reforms. We also discussed process of implementation of large-scale reforms in Armenia in line with European standards. We reaffirmed that reforms are one of the components of our common agenda with the European Council,” President Sargsyan stated.

The parties also emphasized that the progress recorded in negotiations over the Association Agreement demonstrates their common approaches and visions towards main objectives. “We stated with content that talks with the European Council over creation of a deep and comprehensive free trade zone will be launched soon; we also emphasized the importance of negotiations over Visa Facilitation regime to EU countries that kicked off recently in Yerevan,” he said.

The parties also touched upon the European Council statements on the South Caucasus adopted on February 27, 2012. “I voiced my contentment with regard to Council’s position towards Armenia being concordant with our approaches; it clearly specifies the progress recorded in our relations in all major issues of the agenda,” the Armenian President said.