Latvian Minister for Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs, speaking to Kommersant daily of Russia, reflected on Armenia within the framework of the European Union Eastern Partnership Summit being held in the Latvian capital city of in Riga.

Speaking on Armenia’s and Belarus’ refusal to sign up to any summit statement that calls Russia’s annexation of Crimea illegal, the Latvian FM noted that the coordination of positions always takes place in any summit. He added, however, that all fundamental provisions need to be agreed at the level of FMs on Friday.

To the query on whether a lifting of visa regime with Georgia would set a precedent for the other Caucasus countries, Rinkēvičs responded: “We provide an opportunity for the liberalization of the visa regime to all our partners. In addition, we have made some progress on this matter with Armenia and Azerbaijan. (…) If Armenia and Azerbaijan wish and fulfill all the requirements, I see no problem in giving them such an opportunity.”   

The Latvian FM also spoke about the preparation of a framework agreement with Armenia.

“We are ready to start talks with Yerevan on a new agreement, which will be based on the items that we already had in 2013 with Armenia,” Edgars Rinkēvičs noted. “But the key difference will be that Armenia is now a member in the [Russia-led] Eurasian Economic Union [EEU], and [therefore] we will seek means whereby Armenia’s commitments to the EEU do not conflict with the development of relations in some domains of the European Union.”