ArmInfo. On December 19, Armenian Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan took part in the meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission, which coordinates the implementation of the Comprehensive and Enlarged Partnership between Armenia and the EU (CEPA) and the Armenia-EU Partnership Priorities Document.
As the press service of the government reports, in his speech, Pashinyan, in particular, stated: "The signing of the Comprehensive and Enlarged Partnership Agreement between Armenia and the EU was an important step to deepen relations with Europe and implement reforms in Armenia. The implementation of the agreement itself is reform platform that meets the government's program.
I know that at the moment the main task of the Commission is to coordinate the development of the roadmap, and to this end, the Commission is discussing various areas of activity, including trade, transport, energy and the environment. I know that the European side provided a roadmap for implementing the provisions of the Agreement, which were temporarily implemented, "commented the acting prime minister, urging him to continue working with the European side to coordinate actions.
Pashinyan also urged to work more actively on the implementation of the Agreement, as the implementation stage of the most intensive and large-scale programs starts. The Acting Prime Minister noted that he, realizing the importance of cooperation with Europe, will periodically participate in the work of the commission.
The meeting addressed issues of electronic communication and identification.
To note, on November 24, 2017, a Comprehensive and Extended Partnership Agreement was signed between Armenia and the EU, which entered into force on 1 June 2018, 80% of the agreement's provisions are in force today. The remaining provisions will come into force after ratification of the document by the EU member states; to date, of the 28 countries, 8 have ratified the agreement - Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Luxembourg and Denmark.
This bilateral agreement includes political, economic and sectoral cooperation. One of the objectives of the agreement is to strengthen dialogue in all areas of mutual interest, by developing close relations between the parties, supporting the strengthening of democracy and political, economic and institutional stability in the Republic of Armenia, as well as expanding cooperation in trade. The main areas are justice, security, economy, agriculture and infrastructure, environment and climate, consumer protection, migration issues, information society, social policy, education and science, culture, healthcare, territorial development, statistics.
On July 2, 2018, by the decision of the Prime Minister, an interdepartmental commission was created to coordinate the activities ensuring the implementation of the Agreement on Partnership Priorities between the Republic of Armenia and the European Union. In recent months, this commission has discussed various activities in various fields, including trade, transport, energy, environmental protection, etc.
The roadmap developed by the RA-EU in connection with CEPA, the Armenian side and already provided to the European side, consists of two parts: Firstly, it includes trade-related issues, and secondly, sectoral cooperation, which covers a number of areas, including transport, energy, environment, taxation, justice, migration, agriculture and consumer protection. This map now includes only those measures that have already entered into force.
On November 27, 2018, the first meeting of the partnership committee between Armenia and the EU stipulated by the agreement took place. During the meeting of the Partnership Committee, a draft roadmap prepared by the Government of the Republic of Armenia was discussed. The European side was satisfied with the project as a good starting point for the implementation of the Agreement.