Tuesday, January 29 2019 18:04

ArmInfo. The European Commission positively considers the issue of liberalizing the visa regime with Armenia, EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Expansion Affairs Johannes Hahn said at a press conference in Yerevan today.

At the same time, he stressed that this issue should be discussed  with the EU member states, but before the elections of the European  Parliament one can hardly expect a significant shift in this plane.

Referring to the elections held in Armenia in December, he stressed  that they reflected the will of the people. Speaking about  cooperation with the EU, Hahn considered promising areas of  agriculture, technology, justice, education, and infrastructure. He  recalled that today programs in the amount of 300 million euros are  being implemented. It is planned to implement another 100 million  euro programs.  According to him, 800 million euro investments are  planned to be directed to the fields of energy, water resources,  agriculture, transport in the form of grants and loans. "A ? 23  million education package was recently signed in the field of  education," Hahn said, adding that negotiations are currently under  way to form a budget for the next 7 years. He also stressed that the  amount of EU subsidies to countries depends on the degree of their  preparation for the implementation of programs. According to him,  there is a budget line to promote democracy, and this will be an  additional source of funding for Armenia. Hahn assured that funding  for this line this year will be more. He also stressed that a  positive attitude in Armenia is felt in Europe, people are interested  in investments. "They even told me that in the past, for the first  time in many years, more people came to Armenia than left," Hahn  said. Hahn refused to answer the question related to the case of the  second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan: "No matter how loud the  case, we do not answer such questions so as not to affect the  result."