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News.am, 30.06.2017

Lavrov’s words on European integration don’t mean change of treatment to Armenia, Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian stated in the parliament on Friday, speaking at the debate on the 2016 State Budget performance.

Earlier, in an interview with Belarusian media outlets, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov stated about the wish of certain circles to turn the EU Eastern Partnership into an anti-Russian initiative.

It is necessary to read Lavrov’s words attentively: this doesn’t mean that the treatment to Armenia has changed, Nalbandian said.

Armenia from the beginning said that it is ready to deeper and wider cooperation with the EU and is ready to advance the relations as far as possible, but not to the detriment of its intentions in other integration processes. This was said back in the times when the EU didn’t exist.

According to Nalbandian, the EU accepted and continues to accept this stance. The joint EU-Armenia statements mentioned the need for continuing the cooperation in all directions, considering the commitments of Armenia in other integration processes. Former and current High Representatives of the EU for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton and Federica Mogherini, also stated about that.

This was at the basis of talks on the new framework agreement with the EU, which were launched in December 2015. The new agreement, which was initialed in March, will become a serious framework agreement for expanding the future relations, Nalbandian said.