ARMENIA : EU TO FINANCE ARMENIAN REFORM PLAN

TendersInfo
April 7, 2010 Wednesday

The European Union pledged on Tuesday to provide Armenia with 157
million euros ($213 million) in fresh assistance designed to support
political and economic reforms stemming from its participation in
the EU s Eastern Partnership program.

The EU s Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Commissioner Stefan
Fule signed a relevant memorandum of understanding with the Armenian
government during a visit to Yerevan that focused on the scheme
offering six former Soviet republics closer ties with the bloc.

The document, worked out by Armenian and EU officials after months
of consultations, identifies of a plan of reforms which the Armenian
authorities are to carry out in 2011-2013. Officials said the EU
funding will be channeled into its implementation.

The so-called national indicative program has not yet been made
public. The government s press office quoted Prime Minister Tigran
Sarkisian as saying during his meeting with Fule that one of its
key aims is the establishment of democratic structures and effective
system of governance. That will reduce the scale of corruption and
foster the development of small and medium-sized business and more
transparent operations of big business, he said.

It remained unclear whether the EU expects the authorities in Yerevan
to hold free and fair elections, improve their human rights record
or address the lingering fallout from the 2008 post-election unrest
in Armenia as a result of those reforms. Fule made no mention of
these issues during a joint news conference with Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian and in a speech at an international human rights
conference that began in Yerevan on Tuesday.

The European Union has a strategic interest in stability, prosperity
and development, and we are glad that the relationships between the EU
and Armenia are enhancing, Fule told journalists. Eastern Partnership
is raising them to a new level, he said.

Under the scheme also covering neighboring Azerbaijan and Georgia,
Armenia is to negotiate an association and free trade agreement
with the EU. Visiting Yerevan last month, Spanish Foreign Minister
Miguel Angel Moratinos said the EU intends to speed up the planned
association talks.

Fule confirmed this after talks with Nalbandian. I expressed the hope
that we will soon be able to start negotiations on the association
agreement between the European Union and Armenia, he said.

The EU commissioner put a particular emphasis on the economic
component of the deal, saying that it envisages not only free trade
but also policy harmonization. The European Union is offering a very
strong instrument to Armenia to get Armenia closer to the European
Union. It is about a deeper political association and deeper economic
integration, he said.