RA DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER: MEMBERSHIP TO EASTERN PARTNERSHIP DOES NOT MEAN YET THAT COUNTRY AUTOMATICALLY BECOMES EU MEMBER
NOYAN TAPAN
MAY 6, 2009
YEREVAN
The EU Eastern Partnership Summit starts on May 7 in Prague. The
Partnership member six countries, including Armenia, will sign a
Declaration. RA Deputy Foreign Minister Karine Ghazinian reported at
the May 6 press conference. She reminded that the idea of establishing
Eastern Partnership belongs to Poland and Sweden, which "wish to
have stable and reliable neighbors." K. Ghazinian said that though
Eastern Partnership implies passage from neighborhood to partnership,
membership to it does not mean yet that the country automatically
becomes a EU member. "Eastern Partnership’s value is that contacts
will deepen especially between Partnership member countries. Besides,
Armenia considers this at means of expanding its relations with EU,"
K. Ghazinian said.
The Deputy Foreign Minister said that the Eastern Partnership member
countries will have relations in bilateral and all-round formats
in four main platforms, democracy, stability, energy security, and
human contacts. It is also envisaged to hold a summit once every
two years and Foreign Ministers’ meeting once a year. According to
K. Ghazinian, Eastern Partnership should not attend to solution of
conflicts between its member countries, but should achieve conflicting
states’ being interested in cooperating with each other irrespective
of anything. "If there are verges of cooperation, any conflict can
be avoided," she said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
