Interview of Deputy Foreign Minister Garen Nazarian to Tert.am news site
Question: Mr. Nazarian, following the initialing of the new EU-Armenia Agreement, where are we now with the subsequent editing and proofreading?
Garen Nazarian: Armenia and the EU – the Parties to the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, have already started working on the legal scrubbing of the text. Since the negotiations were conducted on the English version of the text, the translation of the Agreement into the official languages of the EU member states and Armenian is in the process. After that, in accordance with the Armenian legislation, the authenticity and proofreading of the Armenian version as well as the preparatory technical works will start.
Question: What are the procedures that precede or required for the signing of the Agreement?
Garen Nazarian: Before the Agreement is signed, the following procedures are to take place: initialing, which, as you know, took place last March in Yerevan, legal scrubbing and translation, which I have already mentioned, and the signing of the Agreement. Afterward, internal procedures necessary for the Agreement to enter into force will follow. The EU member states, in their turn, will make sure that the internal procedures envisaged by their legislations have taken place. The Agreement will enter into force on the date of receiving the final notification from the Parties on the completion of these procedures.
Question: Have the signing dates of the Agreement been set? When will the signing take place?
Garen Nazarian: The Parties would like to sign the agreement before the end of the year, or more precisely, in November 2017 at the Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels.
Question: Will the text of the Agreement be made public? If yes, when?
Garen Nazarian: The Armenian side will publish the text of the Agreement in accordance with the procedures and timetable specified by the legislation of Armenia.
Question: Have any changes been made in the content of the document resulting from the procedures preceding the signing of the Agreement? If yes, what kind of changes?
Garen Nazarian: After the conclusion of the negotiations and initialing of the Agreement, the negotiated text is not to be changed. The initialing of the Agreement means that the Parties reached agreement on the text.