On October 31, the Chairman of the RA NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, the Head of the RA NA delegation to Euronest PA Armen Ashotyan delivered a speech at the opening of the Euronest PA Plenary Session on the future of the Eastern Partnership and Armenia-EU relations.
In the context of Eastern Partnership priorities Armen Ashotyan touched upon Armenia’s multi-track or the so-called ‘complimentary’ Eastern partnership position and in relation to this underlined that we should take into consideration that every state included within the framework of the Eastern Partnership has its own interests and guideline. Armen Ashotyan highlighted the formation of the new legal framework of the RA-EU cooperation and the signing of the RA-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced New Agreement. The Head of the RA NA delegation also expressed hope that there will be positive results connected with the visa liberalisation process in the near future.
In his word Armen Ashotyan emphasized the effective role of the Eastern Partnership platform for the interests of the citizens of the Eastern Partnership countries.
Regarding the current differences between the Eastern Partnership Member States, Armen Ashotyan highlighted the definition of such values, which will be common and admissible for all Eastern Partnership countries.
In his speech Armen Ashotyan has also talked about the conflicts existing in the Eastern Partnership countries and has noted that the Euronest is not a platform of the conflicts’ settlement, however it can be observed as a unique means for the political dialogue of conflicting states, particularly between the colleagues of Armenia and Azerbaijan. In this context Armen Ashotyan emphasized the circumstance that the Assembly could underline in its works in Kiev and record the important fact that all the conflicts existing in the Eastern Partnership countries are different, the Nagorno Karabakh conflict has no military solution, and the problem settlement is based on the OSCE Minsk Group fundamental principles and Helsinki Final Act. Armen Ashotyan attached importance to the fact that the Assembly reaffirmed its support to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.
Armen Ashotyan also underscored the circumstance that the Eastern Partnership is not an agreement and document turnover mentioned on the paper and cannot be, it is a platform for the justification of the expectations of the Eastern Partnership countries, making as a basis and goal of the activity the implementation of the reforms and the daily consistent work.
At the end of his speech Armen Ashotyan has noted in relation to the signing of the RA-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced New Agreement within the framework of the upcoming Summit of the Eastern Partnership that in this new legal framework Armenia will become the first country which is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union and at the same time it will be a legally bounding agreement with the European Union. In this context Armen Ashotyan noted that the signing of the Agreement would be a link to the international community that the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union should not be conflicting parties, and in this case Armenia could be a bridge connecting two different economic and political efforts of the two Unions.