YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian participated in the non-formal meeting of Eastern Partnership foreign ministers held in Tbilisi. EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn and Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs in the EU'sEuropean External Action Service Helga Schmid attended the meeting as well.

As “Armenpress” was informed from the Department of Press, Information and Public Relations of MFA Armenia, giving a speech at the meeting, the Minister mentioned, “We highly appreciate the continuous support and assistance by the EU to our country which was important for Armenia to carry out reforms and develop and consolidate democratic institutions.

Armenia welcomed the European Neighborhood Policy review process. We highly appreciated the initiative of High Representative Mogherini and Commissioner Hahn to engage the partner countries in this process. We are pleased to note that the outcome of the EU Council deliberations of the last week duly reflected the principle of differentiation to be applied to the partners, taking into account the progress made in implementation of their commitments in the areas of democratic reforms”.

Nalbandian welcomed the decision of the EU Council authorizing the European Commission and the High Representative to open negotiations on a new agreement with Armenia.

“We attach great importance to people to people contacts, and view enhanced mobility of our citizens as an important prerequisite for bringing our societies closer. It is almost two years now that the EU-Armenia Visa Facilitation and Readmission agreements are being implemented. We do believe that it is high time to move further and launch a dialogue on visa liberalization with an understanding that this is a reform oriented process”, Nalbandian added.