The European Union (EU) and Armenia are expected to stress the importance of “reviewing and updating the existing basis of their relations” in a declaration to be signed by participants of the ongoing Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Friday, reports RFE/RL Armenian service.

In the final draft of the declaration acquired by RFE/RL on Friday, the parties also reconfirm their commitment “to further develop and strengthen their cooperation in all areas of mutual interest within the Eastern Partnership framework.” 

The text of the declaration apparently reflects on Armenia’s recent U-turn on the initialing of an Association Agreement with the EU that would also provide for the establishment of a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the 28-nation bloc.

The declaration to be signed in Vilnius on Friday further says that “the Summit participants reaffirm the sovereign right of each partner freely to choose the level of ambition and the goals to which it aspires in its relations with the European Union” within the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership.

After nearly four years of negotiations with the EU, and following the talks that were held on September 3 in Moscow between Armenian and Russian Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin, Sargsyan had announced that Armenia plans to join the Customs Union and subsequently engage in the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union. Aside from Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan likewise are members in the Customs Union. And in response to this development, the European Union had stated that the signing of the Armenia-EU Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area agreement is now doubtful.

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