YEREVAN. – Simon Fraser, the Permanent Under Secretary and Head of the Diplomatic Service at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, gave an exclusive interview to Aravot daily, during which he specifically said as follows:

‘“I support Armenia’s efforts to try to establish relations with the EU. I believe you have had serious progress, and I hope you will achieve further progress until November, the [Eastern Partnership] summit to be held in [the Lithuanian capital,] Vilnius. I also hope that all this will contribute to the implementation of additional economic reforms in Armenia.’

Reflecting on the question whether European Union or Eurasian Union, Fraser noted:  

‘I believe Armenia truly wants to have stronger relations with the EU. But Armenia has very strong ties with Russia. Independent states themselves must decide what kind of relations they prefer. [But] in this case, the most important is the EU market, which has 50 million consumers at present.’    

The diplomat also noted that Armenia is an important player in several regional problems, first and foremost, in terms of the settlement of the NK [Nagorno-Karabakh] conflict.  

‘It is apparent that mutual accord, compromise is indispensable for the settlement of the problem and, of course, it is the OSCE Minsk Group’s task to find the key to compromise,’” Aravot quotes.