Armenia to develop new plan of actions with European Union

YEREVAN, December 6. /ARKA/. The secretary of Armenia’s National Security Council, Arthur Baghdasaryan, said today Armenian authorities will develop a new program of actions with the European Union for 2014-2015 following the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius late last month.

Armenia was expected to initial an Association Agreement with the EU at the summit but in September it made a U-turn choosing to join the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. However, despite this U-turn Armenian authorities repeatedly said they were eager to continue political cooperation with the EU.

Speaking at the Vilnius gathering, Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan said Armenia views the European Union’s Eastern Partnership summit as an important stage in the development of its relations with the 28-nation bloc “on a more streamlined and realistic foundations.”

Speaking at the National Security Council’s meeting today Baghdasaryan said that in parallel with the Customs Union membership process, Armenia should continue active cooperation with the European Union, ‘and in this regard it is extremely important for us to develop an ambitious program of EU-Armenia action plan that should encourage the reforms which we want to implement together with our partners from the European Union."

The new program of actions will be presented to the president for signature in 2014 January, according to a National Security Council press release. -0-