Milan Cabrnoch: European Parliament considers Armenia to be its important partner

 The European Parliament respects Armenia's decision to join the Customs Union and at the moment the sides are working out a new format of cooperation, Milan Cabrnoch, European Co-Chairman of the Committee for Armenia-EU Interparliamentary Cooperation, said at a press conference in Yerevan, Thursday.      

He said that on October 30 he met with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, and the latter presented all the reasons of the decision on Armenia's accession to the Customs Union. According to Milan Cabrnoch, President Sargsyan pointed out the issue of national security as one of the key prerequisites of the decision.  Nevertheless, Cabrnoch stressed that the European Parliament considers Armenia to be its important partner and follows the ongoing processes in the republic. The European Parliament is ready to support the ongoing democratic reforms in Armenia, Cabrnoch added. 

For his part, Armenian Co-Chairman of the Committee Samvel Farmanyan stressed that Armenia is interested in promoting cooperation with the EU. "Yerevan and Brussels are intensively negotiating on the new agenda of the Armenia-EU relations", he said. "Armenia has always been honest and sincere in its statement and actions. When speaking of its interest in promotion of the cooperation with the EU, it has always stressed that it is in the Eurasian region and it cannot help participating in the integration projects in this area", he said. 

To note, on October 30 Yerevan hosted the session of the Bureau of the Committee for Armenia-EU Interparliamentary Cooperation. The Co-Chairs of the Commission released a joint statement on the willingness of Armenia and the EU to promote the bilateral cooperation. The document says that the next session of the Commission will be held before May 2014 (i.e. before the elections into the European Parliament).