YEREVAN. - The U.S. Government’s broad goal in its relationship with Armenia is a democratic, prosperous, secure Armenia at peace with its neighbors, the U.S. Ambassador Richard Mills stated today at the meeting with the representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Armenia (AmCham).

“Before I arrived in Yerevan, President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry conveyed to me this message: The U.S. Government’s broad goal in its relationship with Armenia is a democratic, prosperous, secure Armenia at peace with its neighbors.

And that overarching goal underpins the four priorities that I have set for the Embassy’s work while I am ambassador. I want to share those priorities with you tonight, for the sake of transparency. After all, if I am going to call for accountability in Armenia, I need to hold my work, and that of the Embassy, to the same standard,” the Ambassador said.

According to Mr Mills, his first priority will be to deepen the business and trade relations between Armenia and U.S. “Let me be clear, I am not talking about new aid programs, but trade – the strengthening of our joint commercial ties to the benefit of both our economies. This is not a new focus; our countries have always been interested in expanding our trade and investment relationship. What is new is the U.S. Embassy’s assessment that the Armenian economy has reached a level that offers significant new opportunities for commercial relations and investments in a range of sectors. The kind of trade opportunities that merit both governments taking the sometimes difficult steps to synchronize trade-related regulations, legal regimes and customs law. For that reason just this May, the U.S. and Armenian governments established a high-level forum to explore new ways to develop our economic partnership by committing resources to expand bilateral trade. This Forum is the U.S.-Armenia Council on Trade and Investment, also known as the TIFA Council,” he said.

The Ambassador was also delighted to announce that the first meeting of the TIFA Council will take place in Yerevan next week, on November 17, with the participation of representatives from the U.S. Trade Representative office and other agencies. “During the day-long TIFA session, we will discuss key trade topics related to customs, intellectual property rights, non-tariff trade barriers, and government procurement.

We will also establish private sector consultation mechanisms. For me, the private sector consultations are one of the most exciting components, because they will serve as a guide for the government-to-government talks, ensuring we are advocating on the issues that are of importance to business, to people like you in this room. In fact, we plan to organize a separate session with business organizations during the TIFA meeting.

On November 19, just after the TIFA Council session, we will hold the annual meeting of the U.S.-Armenia Task Force, or USATF. The goal of the USATF is for both governments to engage in a big-picture economic policy dialogue on important issues that will influence Armenia’s economic growth and trade for years to come,” Richard Mills said

According to him, the discussion items include fighting corruption, Armenia’s future energy strategy, water management, civil aviation and Open Skies, the unified tax code, and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.