Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan received Head of EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Peter Switalski.
The Prime Minister said that he attaches great importance to the further development of relations with the EU, which are primarily based on shared values. Karen Karapetyan stressed that the government of Armenia is prepared to promote cooperation with the EU in the areas of economic cooperation, democracy, human rights, mobility, good governance and other areas of mutual interest. Noting that the 5th round of negotiations on a new framework agreement with the EU will be launched in the near future, Karen Karapetyan expressed confidence that the sides will manage to maintain the positive trend.
Coming to specific cooperation programs, the Head of Government singled out COSME and Horizon 2020, expressing the belief that they would help build up small and medium businesses and scientific-innovative capacity in Armenia, which are among government priorities.
The Premier noted the importance of European Union’s technical assistance with the ongoing reforms in Armenia and the involvement of European financial institutions in our country’s infrastructure projects. According to Karen Karapetyan, the government of Armenia is ready to expand the scope of cooperation with the EU in the fields of improving the business environment, attracting investment, introducing the European management culture and in other areas.
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Peter Switalski congratulated Karen Karapetyan on his appointment as Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and wished him productive work. Mr Switalski expressed the hope that the appointment of Karen Karapetyan to the post of Head of Government will give a new impetus to the further expansion and deepening of EU-Armenia interaction.
On behalf of the European Union, the Ambassador expressed support to the Government of Armenia in ensuring continuity in reforms and noted that today’s hectic agenda of cooperation can provide a more positive development and outline those far-reaching programs that may be laid at the heart of the new framework agreement.
Welcoming the Government’s drive to implement targeted programs aimed at developing small and medium enterprises and improving the business environment, Mr Switalski assured of European Union’s interest to cooperate with the Government in this area.
The parties next talked about the instrument of assistance to be provided by the EU in 2017-2020, the process of developing partnership priorities, visa liberalization, cooperation in the aviation sector and other issues of topical interest.