Armenia, EU may sign politico-economic document at Riga summit – Karen Bekaryan

10:53 * 22.03.15

In an interview with Tert.am, Karen Bekaryan., Chairman of the
European Integration NGO spoke of the prospects for Armenia-EU
cooperation.

According to him, no document should be expected to be signed at the
forthcoming Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga.

“We are going to have a memorandum-like document or a declaration,
which will inaugurate a transition to a legal framework, which has
been formulated over the last year,” Mr Bekaryan said.

According to him, the document will largely constitute the political
component of the Association Agreement, which, in turn, will envisage
economic bans that would not run counter to Armenian’s commitments to
the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

“Any legal framework can hardly be established at the Riga summit.
According to the relevant procedures, the results of all the talks
will be presented to the sides, and the negotiators will be mandated
to sign an agreement,” Mr Bekaryan said.

With respect to EU representatives’ statements that the talks will
focus on the political component of the agreement, without any points
running counter to Armenia’s commitments to the EEU, he said:

“We should be clearly aware that the norms of the World Trade
Organizations underlie the two economic unions – the deep and
comprehensive free trade agreement and the Customs Union agreement.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress