Estonian FM: EU should focus on Eastern Partnership countriesJuly 25, 2012 - 19:24 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Estonia’s Foreign Minister Urmas Paet stated that the European Union should be working with its Eastern Partnership countries, even at a time when developments in the EU’s southern neighbourhood are demanding a lot of attention. “Eastern Partnership is in our interest and requires the continued attention and support of the European Union,” the Estonian Foreign Minister said at the meeting of the Eastern Partnership foreign ministers in Brussels. “In Eastern Partnership countries we see progress in making reforms and integrating with the European Union, which deserves to be recognized, as well as troubling political developments. All this shows that there is still much to be done,” he stated. The Eastern Partnership countries are Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus. “We are very pleased with the developments in Moldova and if they continue, at the next Eastern Partnership summit we’ll have a reason to move to the next level, the European Union perspective,” said Paet. “It is essential that the countries making more progress are given more opportunities, so that the ‘more for more’ policy is implemented,” he explained. “Therefore we hope for progress in the Moldova visa dialogue,” noted the foreign minister. “Greater visibility and the interest of the public are encouraging, so the European Union could think about how to make Eastern Partnership more visible through public diplomacy,” he stated. Paet said that in future efforts, greater attention should be paid to co-ordinating work between European Union member states and Eastern Partnership states and creating synergy. “The Eastern Partners are priority countries for Estonia’s development co-operation and one way in which we support them is through the Centre of Eastern Partnership, which focuses on increasing the administrative capacity of our Eastern Partners,” Paet explained. “It is also very important to move in the direction of visa facilitation and visa freedom with Eastern Partners, as well as making co-operation in politics and various sectors more effective,” the official website of Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs quoted Minister Paet as saying. Top stories Six total incidents have burned 19 old-growth trees. Friday night 8 trees were torched along the beautiful main entrance. The EU does not intend to conduct military exercises with Armenia, Lead Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano says. Hikmet Hajiyev has said that there is no place for USAID operation in Azerbaijan any longer. A telephone conversation between Putin and Pashinyan before the CSTO summit is not planned, Peskov says. Partner news | Armenia border residents dissatisfied with delimitation Residents Kirants are dissatisfied with the results of the delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. “Great success”: Pashinyan pleased with new border protocol Pashinyan has described the signing by Armenia and Azerbaijan of a protocol on delimitation in Tavush as “a great success”. Armenia, Azerbaijan sign protocol on demarcation coordinates Armenia’s government took on May 15 another step towards handing over four border areas to Azerbaijan. U.S. warns Georgia not to side with Moscow against the west Georgia has been warned by the U.S. not to become an adversary of the west by falling back in line with Moscow. |