Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today attended a regular meeting of the interdepartmental commission coordinating the implementation of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement and the EU-Armenia Partnership Priorities Document. Nikol Pashinyan delivered a speech, in which he stated, in part:
“Dear Commission Members,
The signing of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement with the European Union was an important step on the way to deepening EU-Armenia relations and ensuring cnt reforms in Armenia.
The implementation of the Agreement is itself a reform platform, which is consistent with the government’s program and reform agenda. I am aware that at present the main task of the Commission is to coordinate work on roadmap development, and for this purpose the Commission has been discussing various activities, including trade, transport, energy and environment.
I know that the European side has provided a roadmap for implementing the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement’s provisions, which have been temporarily enforced. Please continue to work with the European side to coordinate the activities featuring on the roadmap.
Commission Chairperson, Acting Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan periodically reports back the work of the Commission and its findings. I am urging you to work more actively on EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement’s implementation, as we are entering the stage of compilation and implementation of extensive programs.
I wish you successful discussion of today’s agenda. Highlighting the cooperation with the EU, I will regularly participate in the Commission’s proceedings.”
Acting Deputy PM Mher Grigoryan said before proceeding to the agenda issues. “Dear colleagues, I assure you that the agenda of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement is the agenda of the Acting Prime Minister. No matter with whom and how extensively we work in this direction, please take into account that we are reporting to him about the process on a regular basis, and in essence, Mr. Pashinyan’s perception is that this is the agenda of our reforms first and foremost.”
The meeting discussed the programs implemented in the sphere of information society cooperation. The participants specifically touched upon the ongoing activities in the fields of electronic communication and identification.
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On November 24, 2017, the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed between the Republic of Armenia and the European Union. It has been partially effective since June 1, 2018, with about 80% of its provisions being effective at this point of time. The remaining provisions will come into force after its ratification by EU-member countries’ parliaments. At the moment, the agreement has been ratified by 8 EU countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Luxemburg and Denmark.
The EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement is a comprehensive and ambitious bilateral agreement that covers political, economic and sectoral cooperation. One of the goals of the agreement is to strengthen the dialogue on all spheres of mutual interest by promoting close relations between the parties, promote democracy, political, economic and institutional stability in the Republic of Armenia, and expand trade exchanges.
The agreement covers the following key areas:
• Judiciary
• Security
• Economy, agriculture and infrastructure
• Environment and climate
• Consumer interests protection
• Migration issues
• Information society
• Social policy
• Education and science
• Culture
• Healthcare
• Territorial development
• Statistics
By the RA Prime Minister’s decision numbered 906-N of July 2, 2018, an interdepartmental commission coordinating the implementation of the Compact and the implementation of the Partnership Priorities Document between the Republic of Armenia and the European Union (hereinafter IDC) was established. The IDC has already discussed a set of priority measures to be implemented in various spheres, including trade, transport, energy and environmental protection.
Developed by the Republic of Armenia, the CEPA Roadmap has already been submitted to the European side. It consists of two parts: the first part deals with trade and trade-related issues, while the second one features per-sector cooperation, including transport, energy and environment, taxation, justice, migration, agriculture and consumer protection. The Roadmap currently features only those measures that have been agreed upon for temporary implementation.
On November 27, 2018, the EU-Armenia Partnership Committee held its first meeting, as prescribed by the CEPA. The meeting discussed the draft roadmap developed by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.
The European side was satisfied with the draft roadmap as a good starting point for implementing the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement.