Large-scale military offensive of Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh in April 2016 was the most dangerous escalation of the conflict since 1994 when ceasefire agreement was signed between Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, Armenia’s FM Edward Nalbandian stated at a press conference with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.
FM Nalbandian reminded that the Azerbaijani aggression was accompanied by gross violations of the international humanitarian law in an apparent attempt to terrorize the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nalbandian’s remarks came following the 17th session of the Armenia-EU Cooperation Council held in Brussels on Tuesday.
“We had extensive discussions on the wide range of issues of Armenia – European Union agenda such as: political dialogue, trade and sectoral cooperation, human rights, mobility, reform process, many other important topics,” Nalbandian said, adding 2016 was a special year for the Armenia-EU cooperation. We had an active and constructive dialogue, high-level visits and meetings, productive negotiations on the Comprehensive and Enhanced partnership agreement, Armenia’s participation in different EU programs.
He also noted that In February, President Sargsyan and President Tusk announced the completion of negotiations on the new legal framework of EU-Armenia partnership, and on March 21st Armenia and the EU initialed the new agreement in Yerevan. We expect to sign the agreement at the Brussels summit.
“Armenia remains committed to the goals of the Eastern Partnership and continues to make its own contribution to the joint efforts in this multilateral framework. The Riga Summit Declaration has been the main guideline for our interaction and cooperation. It was complemented by the ENP Review and most notably, by highlighting the principles of differentiation and shared ownership,” Nalbandian stated, pointing that over the past two years Armenia has registered a significant progress in implementing Riga commitments. Armenia joined the COSME and HORIZON 2020 programmes as well as launching the negotiations on the “Creative Europe” and the Common Aviation Area Agreement aiming to finalize these processes by the upcoming Summit.
“Ensuring mobility and people-to-people contacts is essential for enhancing the connections between our societies. This was one of the core principles set into the foundations of the Eastern Partnership. Armenia and the EU for the past three years have been actively implementing the Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements and we expect to start the visa liberalization dialogue as it has been targeted in Riga,” said the minister.