YEREVAN, APRIL 7, NOYAN TAPAN. Cooperation with the European Union continues to be one of the important directions of Armenia's foreign policy, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian declared at the April 6 joint press conference with Commissioner for EU Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule. E. Nalbandian said that the EU is a reliable political and economic partner for Armenia. "The Armenia-EU relations are currently at the stage of dynamic development, and the start of the Eastern Partnership project raised our cooperatiion with the EU to a new qualitative level. In this respect the Armenian side attaches special importance to the signing of a free trade agreement, the liberalization of the visa regime, and the start of negotiations on signing an association agreement," the Armenian foreign minister stated. The strengthening of Eastern Partnership was discussed at the meeting of E. Nalbandian and S. Fule, and the two sides expressed a hope that cooperation would expand in both bilateral and multilateral formats. International and regional problems and the ways of their solution were also discussed during the meeting. Responding to a reporter's question, E. Nalbandian said that there was no change in the position of the Armenian side on recognition of the status of Nagorno Karabakh. "We have repeatedly stated that, and not only we, but also the Co-Chairs realize that the major issue of the Karabakh problem solution is the recognition and exercise of the Karabakh people's right to self-determination. In line with the indicated context, the statement of the country's president speaks of that. If this major issue is solved, it will be easier to discuss the other issues and find decisions and solutions to them," the foreign minister said.

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