EU-Armenia Partnership Council wraps in Brussels

PanARMENIAN.Net - The EU-Armenia Partnership Council took stock of relations between the country and the bloc on Thursday, June 21.

''Relations between the EU and Armenia have gone from strength to strength in recent weeks and months," said Federica Mogherini, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

"The most visible illustration of this is our new bilateral agreement, the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, which can play a very important role, in particular in bringing benefits to Armenian citizens but also to EU citizens.''

''The EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement is a landmark agreement for us, in that it is not only the legal foundation of our relations, but it is also a very important instrument for Armenia to advance its reforms, and so an expression of partnership based on the system of values that we share," said Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Foreign Affairs Minister of the Republic of Armenia

The Partnership Council reviewed EU-Armenia relations and activities in the framework of the Eastern Partnership and the European neighbourhood policy. The Partnership Council followed-up on EU-Armenia partnership priorities.

Three weeks after the start of the provisional application of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement which was signed on 24 November 2017, the Partnership Council reviewed economic, trade and sectoral cooperation. It also discussed prospects of launching a visa liberalisation dialogue.

On Thursday, Mogherini and Mnatsakanyan discussed key political matters. These included political dialogue and reform, democracy, rule of law, media freedom and human rights.

They also discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and regional issues such as Syria and Iran.