YEREVAN.—The agreement signed between Armenia and the EU was a serious achievement in bilateral relations, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said when presenting report of 2017 actions.

He said that at this stage it is necessary to take stock of what has been achieved and to define further steps.

“Now we are talking about ratification. Armenia announced taking steps for ratification until April. But we will strive to be one step ahead,” the minister said.

 According to him, it is also necessary that the document be ratified by other European countries. It is possible that the implementation will start on May 1 or June.

“We will continue to actively participate in programs that have already been launched,” the minister assured.

As for the assertions of Azerbaijan that the Brussels Declaration allegedly gave preference to the paragraph on territorial integrity, this is not the case. This declaration continues the document adopted in Riga which clearly supported the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group. The document also referred to the statements of the heads of state of the co-chairing countries.