On November 16, RA Minister of Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan met the representatives of the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR). The delegation was composed of Vassilis Maragos, Head of Unit/ Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Eastern Partnership /, DG NEAR, Adriano Martins, Deputy Head of the European External Action Service, Peter Svitalski, Head of EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador.

Welcoming the guests, the Minister Karayan in his speech noted that he attaches great importance the cooperation with the EU, and expects the continuation and further development of cooperation.

Referring to the EU assistance to the Republic of Armenia for the period 2017-2020, the Minister presented the preferred directions of the assistance, in particular highlighting the business environment and SME policy, as well as the directions of trade facilitation.

Vassilis Maragos stressed the importance of ongoing Armenia-EU negotiations on the new framework agreement in terms of deepening the bilateral cooperation.

He highly appreciated the position of the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments of the RA on provided EU assistance to the Republic of Armenia for the period 2017-2020.

Vassilis Maragos also stressed the importance of "European Week" initiative held within the framework of the OECD Eurasia Competitiveness Programme and cooperation being carried out within the framework of that initiative.

The First Deputy Minister Garegin Melkonyan, effectively evaluating the activities of the OECD in Armenia, stressed the interest of Armenian side to continue the cooperation within the framework of the "European Week" initiative. The Deputy Minister noted that the Armenian side actively participated in the activities of the initiative in previous years.

During the meeting also were highlighted the launch of the new phase of Cross Border Cooperation of Black Sea countries.