Yerevan hosts 14th meeting of Armenian-EU Subcommittee for Trade, Economy and Related Legal Affairs

ArmInfo. The 14th meeting of the Armenian-EU Subcommittee for Trade, Economy and Related Legal Affairs kicked off in Yerevan today, on October 16. First Deputy Minister of Economy of RA Garegin Melkonyan heads the Armenian delegation at the event. Mr Luc Pierre DEVIGNE, Head of Unit for Trade aspects of European neighbourhood policy, Trade relations with countries of the CIS and Balkans at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade, heads the EU delegation.

Talking to reporters, Garegin Melkonyan said the given format of cooperation at the level of the subcommittee is based on the Armenia-EU Partnership and Cooperation Agreement that came into effect on July 1 1999. The subcommittee convened its first sitting in Yerevan on July 18, 2000.The members of the subcommittee meet once in ay era to discussed the macroeconomic situation in Armenia and EU, cooperation with international financial institutes, the current situation in the trade, including within GPS+ system, provision of the market economy state (MES) status to Armenia and the projects implemented in the country by the EU. This year the meeting will discussed also issues related to the EU standards, regulations, sanitary norms, protection of intellectual property, state procurement, improvement of the investment environment. Accounts reports and audit, capital movements, as well as cooperation in the field of statistics, taxation and customs.

The cooperation of Armenia and EU is regulated also by the EU-Armenia ENP Action Plan that was adopted and signed on November 14, 2006.  Within the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy the implementation of the Action Plan will significantly advance the approximation of Armenia's legislation, norms and standards to those of the European Union. In this context, the preconditions were created for further economic integration based on adoption and implementation of economic and trade-related rules and regulations.  The Republic of Armenia has successfully completed the implementation of the planned measures of European Neighborhood Policy RA-EU Action Plan for 2009-2011 and for 2012-2013 and is in the process of the planned measures of Action Plan for 2014-2015.

A Protocol to the EU-Armenia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement on a Framework Agreement governing the general principles for the participation of Armenian institutions in EU programmes was concluded in December 2012.

The Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements between the European Union and the Republic of Armenia came into force on 1 January 2014.

On 3 Sept 2013, President Serzh Sargsyan announced that Armenia intends to join the Customs Union and, consequently, the Eurasian Economic Union. Georgia and Moldova signed the EU Association Agreements at the EaP Summit in Riga.