ArmInfo. On February 23, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan received the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Claar.
According to the press service of the Armenian head of state, the President of Armenia welcomed the guest and noted with satisfaction the significant progress in the relations between Armenia and the EU that had emerged in the last period, which manifests itself not only in bilateral relations, but also within the framework of the Eastern Partnership.
Serzh Sargsyan stressed that from the point of view of these relations, 2017 and early 2018 were a period of important achievements, considering that only 2 days ago in Brussels another document was signed - on the implementation of the Armenia-EU Partnership Priorities, which fully reflected all the goals that Armenia set for itself in the framework of cooperation with the European Union.
The head of the republic noted that Armenia is determined to continue the development of relations in the same spirit and to implement the Agreement on Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership with the EU as soon as possible. With this purpose, according to the president, an interdepartmental commission was set up, coordinating the measures to ensure implementation of the agreement, headed by the vice-premier.
According to the President, Armenia may ratify the agreement before the end of April, which will allow its temporary realization, in particular, the process of rapprochement in sectoral areas, until the process of ratification of the document by the EU member states is completed. President Sargsyan noted with satisfaction that Estonia (Toivo Claar Diplomat from Estonia, Ed.) Has already completed the ratification process and expressed the hope that other EU countries will do the same in the foreseeable future.
Toivo Claar expressed his solidarity with the RA President that Armenia-EU relations are developing well. Touching upon the process of ratification of the agreement, he noted that in some European countries this process, taking into account certain features, requires a lot of time, which, however, does not prevent Armenia and the European Union from moving forward, expanding relations with each passing day. The EU Special Representative stressed that Armenia is a very good example of how a country, being a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), can develop good relations with the European Union in parallel. At the meeting, the Armenian President and the EU Special Representative exchanged views on the negotiation process on the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict.
Toivo Claar confirmed EU support for the activities and proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs aimed at a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict.