NEWS.am presents an e-mail interview with UK Ambassador to Armenia Charles Lonsdale.

Q: How would you evaluate the passing year. What event would you single out as most memorable?

For the UK the most significant event of the year was the election in May and the formation of the first coalition government in recent history.  The government has taken tough steps to restore public finances, including implementing significant cuts in public spending.  And for diplomats it means a renewed focus on economic and commercial work, including for us here in Armenia.  For Armenia, I would perhaps single out the launch in July of negotiations with the EU for an Association Agreement.  This is the start of a complex process, and it will take some years to implement the range of measures needed to secure a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement and visa facilitation.  But I think it is significant for Armenia.  It means a really new level of engagement with the EU and of support for a wide range of reforms.

Q: How do you assess the level of the Armenian-British relationships?

We continue to have good bilateral relations and work with Armenia across a range of issues, from training officials to work with the EU to defence reform, and from peace-building initiatives and human rights projects to support for English language teachers and students.  The new UK government has renewed our focus on commercial ties and we would like to see greater business links in both directions. But we have some positive developments on that, including the formation of an Armenia-British Business Chamber in Yerevan and, in London, the launch in November of a new business association for Central Asia and the South Caucasus.  We’ve also had an excellent year for cultural relations, with the British Council organising and supporting arts exhibitions in Yerevan and Gyumri, theatre performances, concerts, a film festival and so forth.

Q: What expectations you have from 2011?

Apart from continuing to build on our bilateral relations, there are a number of issues which have had increasing prominence in 2010 and where I’d hope to see some positive developments in the coming year.  To highlight a couple of them:

I welcome the commitments to reform, building in part on the support and engagement with the EU.  I’ve noted in particular recent comments by the President and Prime Minister on the importance of tackling corruption and bribery.  That’s not easy and means tackling many areas of work but I really hope to see progress in implementing measures to that end.  It’s also vital to start to change attitudes in business and society, so that people don’t accept corruption as a fact of life.  But that needs action from the government to show they mean business.

And I hope to see positive implementation of further reforms currently in hand in a number of other areas, for example on the election law and on broadcasting.  It would be good to have some progress on the issue of violence against women; it’s a problem in many countries but one that needs to be recognised and addressed.

I would also hope to see an increasing focus on environmental issues.  At one level we all need to take climate change more seriously: we can all feel the changes to weather patterns in recent years and these are likely to continue, with a serious impact on people’s lives, in agriculture and, for example, in increased flooding and landslides.  This is a global problem which all countries need to work together to tackle.  More locally, I hope we will also see continuing attention to the environment, both in preserving the green areas in cities from further development, and safeguarding precious natural reserves and biodiversity more widely.

Q:  What new programs, activities are planned in 2011?

We will be continuing the range of activities we currently have, including on peace-building projects.  For example, in March, we will be supporting young people from Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan to visit the UK to take part in a “Peacejam” meeting – it’s an organisation which brings young people together all over the world to work with and be inspired by Nobel Peace Prize Winners.  Although it’s not easy, I believe that it’s vital to keep making efforts to break down the barriers, geographical, political and psychological, in this region, to lay the basis for security, stability and development.  And I’m looking forward to our cultural programmes; we’re currently working with the British Council on plans for our next British Film Festival.

Q: Your wishes to the Armenian people.

I wish the Armenian people a healthy, peaceful, secure and prosperous New Year.