On September 27, the Chair of the RA NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Armen Ashotyan met with Vassilis Maragos, Head of Unit dealing with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Eastern Partnership Countries of the European Commission. The Head of the Political, Press and Information Section Ekaterina Dorodnova also attended the meeting.
The interlocutors highlighted the creation of the new platform of the RA-EU Parliamentary Cooperation Committee designed by the RA-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership new Agreement. In this context items related to the agenda of the RA-EU Parliamentary Cooperation Committee session were discussed.
Talking about the RA-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, Armen Ashotyan noted that we should do our best for making more visible the results of the document for the society. The quick adoption of new Road Map regarding the implementation of the Agreement, which should be based on the priorities of the partnership and 20/20 documents, was underlined. The sides highlighted the ratification of the Agreement by more countries before the elections of the European Parliament to be held in May 2019. In the context of the latter’s use the interlocutors also underscored the involvement of the civil society.
Touching upon the economic cooperation items, Armen Ashotyan has noted that the economic progress of Armenia depends on the implementation of reforms but not on extraordinary parliamentary elections. With regards to this, the Committee Chair added that, alas, until now the government had not taken essential steps for the improvement of the investment environment in Armenia, liberalisation of the economy, raising the investment attractiveness of Armenia, including also within the scope of the RA-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement.
In his word Armen Ashotyan also stressed the necessity of the modernisation of the institutes and mechanisms in the context of the EU cooperation.