YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS. The negotiations on the Armenia-EU new cooperation agreement are proceeding well. At this moment there is no critical issue which will be problematic for the negotiation process, first Deputy Minister of Economy Garegin Melkonyan said at the daily briefing on July 26, reports “Armenpress”.

“Within six months we have had several negotiation cycles through mutual visits and video-conferences. We are holding several monthly sectoral negotiations, especially in the trade and investment fields. Two negotiation stages are expected until the end of this year”, Garegin Melkonyan said.

He said not all texts referring to the trade and investment sections were provided to the Armenian side. “We still have not received certain sections from the EU, and each section received is put under the internal circulation, is being discussed, the negotiation stance is being formulated after which it becomes possible to start the negotiations with the EU partners”, the Deputy Minister said.

He cannot say for sure when the negotiations will end. To the question that Armenia already has a negotiation experience with the EU, whether this doesn’t make easier the ongoing works and make possible complete them in a short period, the Minister said: “There is a certain easiness, since we have already had a negotiation process with the EU, but this one has its significance, since now in many issues we consider each discussed norm and agreement in the context of the obligations set within the EAEU framework. It makes the works more in-depth and extensive from the technical and professional point of view, but it also requires time”.