Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan received Wednesday the EU Troika delegation led by Dimitrij Rupel, the Foreign Minister of Slovenia which currently holds the EU presidency, the RA government's press office reported.

The delegation includes European Commission for External Affairs and ENP Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU Envoy for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby and other officials.

Welcoming the guests, the PM stated that Armenia highlights relations with the EU member states and works for their consolidation. He also expressed satisfaction with the ENP Action Plan implementation.

For his part, Mr Rupel said the current visit helped to understand regional problems. "We just wish our South Caucasian friends were friends for each other as well. We held discussions on a wide scope of issues, including the EU-Armenia relations, the forthcoming presidential elections, the Nagorno Karabakh conflict as well as the Armenian-Turkish relations. The European Union wants to strengthen ties with Armenia and extension of Mr Semneby's mandate is the evidence of this intention," he said.

Ms. Ferrero-Waldner remarked that a great deal of work has been done within the Action Plan and there is still much to be done. "The Action Plan is extremely useful for bringing Armenia close to European standards," she said.