EUROPEAN UNION INVITES RUSSIA TO "EASTERN PARTNERSHIP"

Panorama.am
19:38 24/02/2009

Western countries are intended to fill the previous gaps implementing
the project of "Eastern Partnership".

The representative of France Bernard Kushner announced during
the Foreign Ministerial meeting of the European Union countries
in Brussels, that the Union has invited Russia and Turkey to have
observer’s status in the "Eastern Partnership" project. The French
Minister mentioned that the EU wanted to avoid the situation created
in the aftermaths of the NATO expansion, when Russian authorities
thought they were put in blockade.

Earlier the Russian party has taken the initiative to join the new
project of the EU. The Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov
expressed their preparedness of participation to the EU foreign
policy chief and Secretary-General of the Council of the European
Union Javier Solana.

"Eastern Partnership" is meant to provide institutionalized forum for
discussing visa agreements, free trade deals and strategic partnership
agreements with the EU’s eastern neighbors. Its geographical scope
is to consist of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress