Friday, April 25 2014

"Assessing the road covered by the Eastern Partnership we can note that at the end of the day it was successful. As I said on numerous other occasions, it first of all provided the partner countries with an opportunity to coordinate and expand their domestic reforms. We have grounded it in shared values and consolidated the foundation for our collaboration", President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said in his statement at the High-level Meeting in Prague on the 5th Anniversary of the Eastern Partnership.

The press service of the Armenian President quotes Serzh Sargsyan as saying, "Over the past five years Armenia and the European Union have done an extensive work: our political dialogue has been consolidated, we have taken joint efforts at responding to multifarious challenges. We have agreed upon and applied a visa- facilitation mechanism, which is one among the first tangible outcomes of our partnership.

Armenia has got an opportunity to participate in different EU programs and thus enlarged the framework of its sectoral cooperation. We are committed to taking further steps with our EU partners in order to form a new legal foundation regulating our relations, which on one hand will reflect the contents of Armenia's preceding discussions with the EU, and on the other hand will be compatible with other formats for cooperation.

It is our conviction that none of the partner countries should be forced to pay a price for the decision it makes regarding its participation level in this or that integration process. We do not want to make a choice between friends, but we want to have as many friends as possible.
I believe that we have chosen the right path. The Eastern Partnership is not solely about an association agreement. It is basically an instrument. When we declared our approach of "both: and:" we meant an opportunity that envisages alternative, and not a choice of this or that instrument of cooperation. I am confident that if we continue to abide by shared values and respect each other's decisions and choice our cooperation will proceed by the right path.
We sincerely believe that only through the avenue of cooperation and joint steps it is possible to materialize the vision of the united Europe in peace and prosperity.

In the end, I would like to note once again that the Eastern Partnership had some problems in its formation period yet. Particularly, the criterion of grouping partners was not clear: the countries differed in their approaches, their goals and I think that this is the reason that at least of the Eastern Partnership's components - the regional cooperation component - was doomed to failure. I still do not understand the criterion of grouping Armenia and Azerbaijan into one partnership - different opportunities, different approaches, different goals - and this is the reason that component did not work. I am confident that in any case the partnership will continue and I am sure that there will be difficulties as they exist today, but I am also confident that all those difficulties will be addressed by peaceful means."