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“Armenia and the EU for the past three years have been actively implementing the Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements. The next step is the visa liberalization dialogue as targeted in the Riga Summit Declaration,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian stated at the Eastern Partnership and Visegrad 4 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Warsaw on Wednesday.

As the press department at Armenian foreign ministry reports, Minister Nalbandian said in his speech that on March 21st Armenia and the EU have initialed the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement that will reflect the depth and essence of our relations and set new guidelines for enhanced partnership.

“Interconnectivity occupies a solid place in the Framework Agreement, as well as in the Armenia-EU Partnership Priorities for 2017-2020, underlining its importance not only for the bilateral relations, but also in the context of the regional cooperation,” noted the minister, pointing another good example of the Armenia-EU negotiations which is the Common Aviation Area Agreement under negotiation.

The European Union, through the European Investment Bank, contributes to the realization of the one of Armenia’s strategic projects –

The Armenian minister next listed the EU contribution to Armenia’s development, the construction of the North-South road corridor that crosses the country with 556 km-long modern highway, the recent modernization of Armenia-Georgia border crossing points, the construction of a new Armenia-Georgia high-voltage transmission lines among them.

“Ensuring mobility and people-to-people contacts are essential for enhancing the connections between our societies. This was one of the core principles set into the foundations of the Eastern Partnership. One of the ways to realize this commitment and to bring our societies closer is the visa free regime,” stated the minister.

Nalbandian next pointed out that the links between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union should be a matter of pragmatic and result oriented dialogue. “Armenia as a member state of the EAEU and one of the Eastern Partnership countries is ready to contribute to this end,” he added.

Nalbandian concluded his remarks with words of gratitude to the European Union for significant financial and technical assistance in support of organizing a free and fair parliamentary elections in Armenia in the beginning of April.