ARMENIAN PRESIDENT TO TAKE PART IN EASTERN PARTNERSHIP CONFERENCE IN PRAGUE

ARKA
Feb 2, 2009

YEREVAN, February 2. /ARKA/. Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan has
been invited to participate in the Eastern Partnership summit to take
place in Prague this spring, the RA President’s Press Service reports.

During the Davos meeting on January 30, Czech President Vaclav Klaus
invited his Armenian counterpart Sargsyan to the Prague summit.

Approved by 27 EU member-states at the December 2008 summit in
Brussels, the initiators of the Eastern Partnership were Poland
and Sweden. The program aims at bringing together Ukraine, Armenia,
Moldavia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and, possibly, Belarus.

The program’s objective is to boost political cooperation and
integrate ex-soviet states into EU economy, as well as extend financial
assistance to these countries and ensure energy safety in post-soviet
space.

Stressing the role of the South Caucasus for EU, President Klaus
said the Eastern Partnership is essential in promoting the region’s
collaboration with EU.

In his turn, RA President Serzh Sargsyan said Armenia stands ready
to stimulate democratic processes fixed in the program of actions.

During the meeting, the presidents touched upon a range of issues on
bilateral cooperation and Armenia-EU relations.

Sargsyan greatly appreciated the Generalized System of Preferences
(GSP+, duty and quota-free access to developing countries that have
implem ented sustainable development and good governance policies
under the GSP+ incentive – ARKA), adding the agreement contributes
to Armenia-EU trade partnership.

At the Polish president’s request, Sargsyan also touched upon the
current negotiations over a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh
conflict and Armenia-Turkey dialogue.