EU to provide Armenia with 43 million euro additional funding to get ready for EU-Armenia association agreement

YEREVAN, September 27. / ARKA /. Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian and EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) Stefan Fule have signed today an agreement in Yerevan whereby the EU will provide Armenia’s government with 43.1 million euros in additional funding to finance its preparation for the implementation of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement.

"We have signed two agreements today, which call for provision of €43 million of additional funds that will be used to support preparing Armenian institutions for political association and economic integration with the EU," Füle said during a joint press conference with Armenian prime minister.

According to him, there is no doubt the EU is ready to fully support Armenia in its quest for European integration, which is in the interests of both Armenia and the EU.

"We are now in a good starting position. Armenia has done a lot of work, and we appreciated it by providing additional funding in the amount of 15 million euros,’ said the Commissioner.

Prime minister Tigran Sarkisian thanked the EU for its support in the implementation of reform and expressed confidence that the agreement will give a new impetus to Armenia’s European integration.

According to him, it is obvious that the financial and technical assistance of the EU significantly extends the capabilities of the Armenian government, in particular, in the context of infrastructure development, application of sanitary and phytosanitary standards, reformation of tax and customs laws.

"Today, in these areas there is a gap between our intentions and capabilities, and the EU is helping us to significantly narrow it ", Sarkisian said.

Armenia is actively participating in various European integration projects, including those included in Eastern Partnership Program, which focuses on political and economic rapprochement between the EU and a number of post-Soviet countries.

The talks on Armenia-EU Association Agreement started in 2010 July. It will replace the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and will be aimed at strengthening relations between Armenia and the European Union in various fields, especially in matters of foreign policy, democracy, economic integration, movement of people and energy. -0-