The fifth round of negotiations on a new framework agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the European Union (EU) took place in Yerevan on Tuesday, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
According to the source, the Armenian delegation at the negotiations was headed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Karen Nazarian, while the European delegation was headed by European External Action Service official Luc Devigne.
The talks were attended by the head of the EU delegation to Armenia, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and the EU.
According to the Armenian Ministry, questions on different sections of the draft agreement were discussed during the negotiations.
“A plenary meeting in the extended format took place within the framework of the negotiations, during which the parties summed up the results of the negotiations on a number of areas and identified a range of issues for discussion at the next round of talks,” the Ministry’s statement said.
Armenia and the EU launched their current talks in December 2015 with a view to negotiating a new political and economic deal which is supposed to serve as a less ambitious alternative to an Association Agreement negotiated by Yerevan and Brussels three years ago.
The signing of the far-reaching agreement in 2013 was effectively precluded by Armenia’s decision to join a Russian-led alliance of ex-Soviet states.
The new accord is expected to contain many political and even economic provisions of the cancelled Association Agreement. But it will have no free trade-related component due to Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union.
The next round of Armenia-EU talks on the new framework agreement is due to take place in Brussels in December.