EU, Armenia sign Partnership Priorities with €160 mln aid package

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Union will provide financial assistance worth €160 million to Armenia by 2020 under a new document signed by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini, and Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian.

The sides inked the EU-Armenia Partnership Priorities in Brussels on Wednesday, February 21.

This sets the joint policy priorities for the coming years, in line with the new EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement.

The four main areas of cooperation are:

-Strengthening institutions and good governance;

-Economic development and market opportunities;

-Connectivity, energy efficiency, environment and climate action;

-Mobility and people-to-people contacts.

The Partnership Priorities will be key in guiding EU financial assistance to Armenia until 2020. For that period, the EU has earmarked around €160 million for Armenia to invest, among other areas, in education and innovation, which are key for Armenia's economic development.

"The European Union and Armenia are, with these Partnership Priorities, further enhancing our already strong friendship and cooperation", said Mogherini.

"Combined with our new Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement that we signed only three months ago at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels, we are reinforcing our joint commitment to delivering positive results in areas that really make a difference to peoples' lives, both in the EU and in Armenia. We stay engaged to push ahead and work to turn those commitments into reality."

The meeting also gave the diplomats the opportunity to discuss relations between the European Union and Armenia more broadly, including plans for the implementation of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, which was signed in the margins of the Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels on 24 November, as well as follow-up on the progress on the 20 deliverables for 2020.