Foreign Minister: "Eastern Partnership" serves to simplify  cooperation of Eastern partners in the European direction

ArmInfo. Armenian Foreign  Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan participated in the 6th Eastern  Partnership Countries Forum in Tallinn, dedicated to the 10th  anniversary of the organization.

As the press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry reports,  Mnatsakanyan, as speaker, participated in the discussion on the  "Decade of Evolution: evaluating the past 10 years of the Eastern  Partnership" at the forum, thanked the Estonian side for its  consistent efforts in promoting the concept and policy of the Eastern  Partnership, as well as the chairmanship of Romania in the EU for  encouraging the representation of the Eastern Partnership within the  framework of their presidency priorities. Touching upon the 10th  anniversary of the Eastern Partnership, the Armenian Foreign Minister  noted that this is a platform that serves the purpose of simplifying  cooperation of the Eastern partners in the European direction. He  added that the Eastern Partnership is also a good tool for building  national institutions consistent with European values and consistent  with the European model.

In this context, Mnatsakanyan stressed that he represents a country  where the revolution that took place in April-May 2018 became  possible, including thanks to the national institutional capabilities  acquired over the past 27 years. "The Eastern Partnership has been  and remains an important platform for cooperation. At the same time,  the Eastern Partnership cannot remain indifferent to the wide context  and various levels of relations with Europe," he noted. According to  Mnatsakanyan, the level of bilateral cooperation with European  countries is also important. As the Foreign Minister pointed out,  Armenia also has important relations and a rich bilateral agenda with  the EU. "The legal basis for our current relations is the Armenia- EU  Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, which is an  important and effective tool to facilitate the agenda of our reforms  and deepen cooperation. At the same time, we are the beneficiaries of  this additional important platform, the Eastern Partnership," he  said. Highlighting the two platforms of the Eastern Partnership  functions, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan stressed that this is, first of all, a  practical approach to expanding and maximally deepening cooperation  in various fields between Eastern partners and the European Union, as  well as the wide involvement of societies in such cooperation. The  Foreign Minister noted that this is not cooperation exclusively  between governments, but widespread involvement of societies in  various other platforms for 10 years. In this context, as a positive  example, the minister pointed to the holding of business forums,  noting with satisfaction that another such event is planned for the  period of the Romanian presidency. Armenian Foreign Minister stressed  the importance of promoting the digital agenda on the part of the  Eastern Partnership, as well as opportunities for cooperation in  stimulating the digital economy. At the same time, he stressed the  role of the civil society and youth platform on the Eastern  Partnership agenda, noting that the national platform of civil  society in Armenia is an important partner of the government, with  which there is quite close cooperation both within the national  platform and at the level of the Eastern Partnership.

Another plane of the Eastern Partnership, he said, concerns the  ongoing discussion to understand the nature and affiliation of this  partnership. "Is this really a partnership of 28 EU countries with  six Eastern partners?  For 10 years we have to challenge the  prevailing perception that the Eastern Partnership, in fact, is more  a partnership between Eastern European members of the EU and Eastern  partners. In fact, a large and a much more important challenge is the  recognition of the nature of common values and common European  identity as the axis of the Eastern Partnership. Thus, it must be  Eastern or European is it a partnership? ", the Armenian Foreign  Minister summed up. Then Mnatsakanyan and other speakers answered  numerous questions from the participants. The Eastern Partnership is  a project of the European Union, which has the main stated goal of  developing the integration ties of the European Union with six  countries of the former USSR: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia,  Moldova and Ukraine.