EU, not Armenia, refused to sign Association Agreement: SargsyanFebruary 19, 2018 - 11:08 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Union, and not Armenia, gave up the signing of the Association Agreement, president Serzh Sargsyan said in response to a question from Ian Bremmer, President and Founder of Eurasia Group, at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, February 17. When Armenia started negotiations with the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union, both the organizations were aware of them. "And when the principle of “both, and” was replaced by that of “either, or” we were unable to sign such an agreement. That is, it was the European Union rather than Armenia to give up the signing of the Association Agreement," Sargsyan said. "We have even suggested signing part of the agreement, particularly the political component, if possible, but our European partners refused. But just a few weeks later, they signed such an agreement with Ukraine. "We understand very well Armenia’s opportunities and Ukraine’s possibilities, the role of Armenia and that of Ukraine; nevertheless, it was strange for us. So we did not give up the idea of signing such a cooperation arrangement, and thank God that the European Union made a relevant decision later, which was confirmed at the Riga summit. It was a differentiated approach which enabled us to sign a document with the European Union." At the invitation of Munich Security Conference Chairman, Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, president Sargsyan attended the Conference on Saturday. Sargsyan delivered a speech at the “Inside or Outside: Countries between Russia and Europe” panel discussion and offered remarks at the Q&A session afterwards. Top stories President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Achieving stable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains a priority of the OSCE, said Ian Borg. The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Michael Roth believes sanctions must be put on the table after Baku‘s ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. Partner news | Yeremyan Projects opens state-of-the-art dairy production plant Yeremyan Projects officially launched the Yeremyan Products state-of-the-art milk processing plant in Yerevan on May 24. Azerbaijan's defense spending set to increase by 11% Azerbaijan's spending on defense and national security will increase by 11%, according to a fresh bill. Armenian PM’s helicopter makes emergency landing in Vanadzor The helicopter transporting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made an emergency landing in Vanadzor. Lavrov says envoys “periodically” summoned for consultations Sergei Lavrov has commented Moscow’s summoning of Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin. |