Armenia, EU complete talks about free trade area
YEREVAN. July 24 (Interfax) - Armenia and the European Union concluded negotiations on the creation of a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) on Wednesday, the European Commission posted a statement on its website.
Following the final round of talks, Armenia and the EU reached an agreement on key aspects of the Association Agreement, which will create new structure for trade relations between Armenia and the EU, the statement said.
"The DCFTA will strengthen Armenia's economic integration with the EU by providing better market access for European and Armenian goods and services to each other's markets," the statement said.
The Association Agreement with the EU is expected to be initialed in Lithuania, which is currently chairing the EU and will host the Eastern partnership summit in November 2013.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said on July 23 that Armenia, Georgia and Moldova could initial and then sign free trade agreements with the EU this year.
"We can expect the free trade agreements with Moldova, Georgia and, possibly, Armenia, to be initialed prior to the high-level meeting in Vilnius. Then we will try to sign [them] as quickly as possible, it would be best to do this while this European Commission is still working," Linkevicius told the Baltic News Service on July 22.
The current European Commission expires in second half of 2013, BNS reported.
Georgia concluded the DCFTA talks on July 22, while Moldavia did this even earlier.
