The government of Armenia has approved the bill on ratification of a comprehensive and expanded partnership agreement between the country as well as the European Union (EU), European Atomic Energy Community, and their member countries.

Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan introduced this draft law at Thursday’s Cabinet session, and he noted that this agreement raises Armenia-EU relations to a new level of partnership.

In his words, the agreement will come into force when the last country involved will notify that its respective domestic processes have been completed. 

“[But] at the same time, we [Armenia] have received a notification from the EU that separate provisions of the agreement may enter into force for temporary application,” Kocharyan said. “That is, a part of the agreement can be applied prior to the final entry into force.”

The deputy FM added, however, that in order for this to be possible, first Armenia itself needs to complete the respective domestic processes.