Yerevan to host talks on joining EU free trade agreement

PanARMENIAN.Net - Brussels hosted the fourth stage of Armenia-EU talks on joining the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) agreement on Feb 5-7, with details on facilitation of technical barriers in trade, procurement, transparency, dispute resolution and harmonization of customs processes specified.

According to Armenian deputy minister of economy Garegin Melkonyan, the next stage is slated for mid-April 2013.

On its path to European integration, Armenia has adopted a number of instruments of EU technical assistance, including the TWINNING and ТAIEX programs, aimed at bringing RA legislation in line with that of the EU.

The results of a 4-year “Support to Armenian Programme Administration Office for Twinning and TAIEX Operations” Project (SATTO) were summarized today, Feb 12 in Armenia.

The overall objective of the SATTO project was to support the capacity of Armenia to make the best use of EU assistance and in particular of the Institutional Twinning and TAIEX instruments. This cooperation is accompanying the process of Association with the EU and the establishment of a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA)

Over 70 ТAIEX Programs were implemented in Armenia since 2009, with 18 Twinning programs currently in progress. Food security, intellectual property, boosting of tax and customs administration are among the fields the projects target.

The total cost of Twinning and ТAIEX operations implemented in the past 4 years amounted to euro 2 mln.