On 5 April, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia hosted the first government-civil society discussion on the draft roadmap for enforcement of Part 6 (Trade and Trade-related Issues) of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA), reports the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Among the attendees representing the government were Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Avet Adonts, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments Maneh Adamyan, Deputy Minister of Justice Vigen Kocharyan, Deputy Head of the Food Safety Inspection Body Edgar Tchagharyan and other high-ranking government officials, as well as nearly three dozens of civil society representatives.

The discussion was devoted to the more sensitive chapters, particularly intellectual property, public procurement, competition, transparency and settlement of disputes, and the steps taken to enforce the provisions enshrined therein were presented to the government.

Civil society representatives particularly showed great interest in the steps that the Government of the Republic of Armenia will be taking to implement certain provisions of the intellectual property chapter (promotion of the smooth and effective termination of the use and rebranding of the “Brandy” geographical indication), as well as the chapters devoted to receipt of technical and financial assistance to be provided by the EU, public procurement and settlement of disputes for the purpose of helping maintain the competitive position of a product in foreign markets. The chapters were thoroughly presented, and the deputy heads of the interested government agencies of the Republic of Armenia answered the questions of the civil society representatives.

The willingness of the two parties to continue the discussions in this format was reaffirmed at the end of the session.