Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian with EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini sign agreement in Brussels on Wednesday
BRUSSELS—The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini and Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, signed the EU-Armenia Partnership Priorities in Brussels.
This sets the joint policy priorities for the coming years, in line with the new EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. The four main areas of cooperation are:
- Strengthening institutions and good governance;
- Economic development and market opportunities;
- Connectivity, energy efficiency, environment and climate action;
- Mobility and people-to-people contacts
The Partnership Priorities will be key in guiding EU financial assistance to Armenia until 2020. For that period, the EU has earmarked around €160 million for Armenia to invest, among other areas, in education and innovation, which are key for Armenia’s economic development.
“The European Union and Armenia are, with these Partnership Priorities, further enhancing our already strong friendship and cooperation,” said Mogherini. “Combined with our new Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement that we signed only three months ago at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels, we are reinforcing our joint commitment to delivering positive results in areas that really make a difference to peoples’ lives, both in the EU and in Armenia. We stay engaged to push ahead and work to turn those commitments into reality.”
Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, said: “I welcome the adoption of the Partnership Priorities between the European Union and Armenia, which is a direct result of differentiation in our bilateral relations based on mutual interests. This will pave the way for our cooperation with the aim to bring tangible benefits to the daily lives of Armenian citizens.”
The meeting also gave the High Representative and the Minister the opportunity to discuss relations between the European Union and Armenia more broadly, including plans for the implementation of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, which was signed in the margins of the Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels on 24 November, as well as follow-up on the progress on the 20 deliverables for 2020. The agreement provides for the wide-ranging approximation of Armenian legislation to that of the European Union. Once implemented, the agreement will bring concrete benefits to citizens, including job creation through economic growth, improved safety and environmental standards, fairer rules when it comes to competition and public procurement.