European Union remains committed to developing ties with Armenia, commissioner says

YEREVAN, September 20. / ARKA /. The European Union remains committed to developing cooperation with Armenia, despite the fact that it has no interest in signing an association agreement with it, having chosen to join the Russia-led  Customs Union, European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fuele said, according to  RIA Novosti.

"The European Commission is ready for new forms of cooperation with Armenia" – Fuele said at a news conference on the fringes of a  Yalta European Strategy forum. According to him, Armenia remains an active member of EU’s Eastern Partnership program and continues implementation of EU-proposed  reforms.

Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan announced September 3 after talks with Russia’s Putin in Moscow that his country would join the Customs Union. Before that Armenia was expected to initial an association agreement with the European Union in late November. Following this the Armenian government offered to finalize a watered-down version of the association agreement, but EU’s enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele dismissed this idea during a visit to Armenia saying the association agreement was  actually one agreement.  “They (the association agreement and the deep and comprehensive free trade area) are two parts of one treaty that have been negotiated with our Armenian colleagues. There are clear links between those two parts; you can't separate just one at the expense of the other,” he said at a news conference in Yerevan. -0-.