Thursday, 24 October 2013
Tigran Sargsyan: “We are committed to continuing our close cooperation with Europe, without opposing it to the Customs Union.”
Led by RPA Deputy Chairman, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, the government delegation of Armenia attended today the European People’s Party Summit in Brussels.
Tigran Sargsyan delivered a speech, in which he spoke about Armenia’s foreign policy, EU-Armenia and RF-Armenia relations.
“Our road to Europe has not been an easy one. Set on the tectonic edges of empires and civilizations, throughout its long history, Armenia has always been under multiple pressures and almost constantly has had to address grave security concerns. Sometimes, these concerns have been mitigated rather fast; at other times, it has taken us centuries to neutralize them. Sometimes rushing forward, sometimes taking detours, we have strived for Europe. Some detours have been long and difficult; others have been overcome rather fast. Regardless of the time and effort consumed by these detours, the destination was always clear. Even when physical proximity was in question, Armenia always stayed devoted to her heritage and core Christian values. We view our relationship with the EPP in this key,” the Prime Minister said.
According to Tigran Sargsyan, being a part of the EPP family is a key part of Armenia’s strategy of ever-closer integration with Europe.
“We pursue a course for closer integration with Europe. We strive for having a broad and comprehensive relationship with Europe. We are committed to this vision. This aspiration refers to all aspects of cooperation - state-building, good governance and democracy, judicial reforms and fight against corruption, economic and trade activity, security and military affairs, culture, education, etc. With the help of the European partners we have accomplished a lot in these directions, and we are eager to continue the cooperation with the EU within the same framework. We do not see our cooperation with the European Union in a “black-and-white” context. We reject such a framing of the issue. It is not at all question of customs tariffs and technical details. For a landlocked and blockaded Armenia, with neighbors showing off their petrodollars-fed military might, it would be a fallacious choice to forego its vital strategic relationship with Russia,” Tigran Sargsyan noted.
The Premier emphasized that “Armenia is not building new relations at the expense of its relationship with other partners. We will continue to develop in parallel relationships and interests with our key partners.”
