PRESS RELEASE
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia
Contact: Information Desk
Tel: (374-10) 52-35-31
Email: [email protected]
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Foreign Minister Oskanian Signs Memorandum, European Neighborhood
Action Plan Enters into Force
The Seventh Armenia-EU Cooperation Council took place on the morning of
November 14 in Brussels. During this meeting, the European Neighborhood
Policy Action Plan was adopted and entered into force.
The Armenian delegation was headed by the Cooperation Council’s
Armenian Co-Chairman Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian. The European
side was represented by the Finnish Minister of Trade and Development,
representing the EU Presidency, Germany’s State Minister representing
the upcoming German Presidency of the EU, EU Special Representative in
the South Caucasus and high-level European Commission representatives.
The Finnish Trade Minister, Paula Lehtomaeki, opened the Council
session by welcoming the Armenian delegation, expressing appreciation
of the work done by the Armenian side in completing the Action Plan,
and stating their readiness to move to implementation.
Minister Oskanian thanked the Finnish Presidency and the Commission
for their persistence in completing the Action Plan process. He said
this is truly a different document, with five distinctive elements. He
said, "It elevates the level of the relationship to a new qualitative
level; it is not a document of intentions, but a document of action,
because it is project-oriented; it reinforces our reform processes,
and as we’ve always said, reforms are our only assets, because our
development depends not on natural resources but human resources, and
therefore we need to provide the necessary conditions to develop that
resource; further, it allows us to go beyond cooperation and towards
integration in certain areas; finally, it will be a bottom-up process,
and just as we involved NGOs and civil society in the preparation of
the document, so we will involve them now in the implementation phase,
since the nature of the document and projects compels us to make this
a bottom-up process."
The Council participants proceeded with the agenda items which included
political issues, internal reforms, human rights issues and energy
concerns. The Armenian side explained Armenia’s policy of energy
diversification and particularly, the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline.
The Council meeting was followed by the signing of a memorandum
recommending the adoption of the European Neighborhood Policy Action
Plan. Armenia’s Foreign Minister and the Finnish Trade Minister
participated in the signing.
The implementation process will provide an opportunity for deeper
integration, including in the EU internal markets. The Action Plan
proposes closer political, security, economic and cultural relations
with the EU. In the process of implementation, Armenia’s social,
political and economic systems will begin to resemble European
systems. The Action Plan assumes greater financial assistance,
a deepening of trade and economic relations, the harmonization of
economic legislation, continuing reduction of tariff limitations. To
provide aid and support in all these directions, a new European
Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument will provide, on the average,
25 million Euros annually during the five years of the agreement. This
support will also be directed at cross-border and regional cooperation.