The second round of talks on the Armenia-EU Action Plan within the European Neighborhood Policy started in Brussels today. According to head of the Armenian delegation, Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Baiburtian, Armenia was included in the neighborhood policy in June 2004 along with Georgia and Azerbaijan. In his words, at first the EU questioned the expedience of including the South Caucasian states in the program over the availability of unsettled conflicts in the region but a year later Brussels decided that without participation of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan the implementation of the program will be incomplete. With the EU enlargement a necessity of forming the belt of security and stability occurred. According to the European neighborhood policy authors, this will simplify the EU's dialogue with the new neighbors. "It should be noted that the participation in the European Neighborhood Policy doesn't guarantee membership in the EU for Armenia and other participants, but it doesn't close the door to united Europe either. The European integration was and still remains one of the principal lines of our foreign policy and we strive for more close cooperation and integration into the EU," Armen Baiburtian said. In his words, the European Neighborhood Policy opens for Armenia the possibility of institutional access to the EU internal market what is one of the most important constituents and stimuli of the program. Besides, the implementation of the Action Plan supposes deepening of political and economic reform in Armenia.

The RA Deputy FM gave a positive estimate to the first round of talks held November 28, 2005 in Yerevan. "We and our European counterparts came to common ground on plenty of issues. The rest need further elaboration and they will be discussed in Brussels March 6. Our delegation includes members of the president administration, National Assembly, Ministries of Economy and Finance, Trade and Economic Development, Justice, Energy and other departments," Baiburtian said. In his words, after the successful implementation of the Action Plan the EU will offer a new agreement on cooperation and integration. However, it's premature to speak of it now, the RA Deputy FM said in an interview with Mediamax news agency.