Of course I wish to express our thanks to the European Commission, to Secretary General Javier Solana personally, and to the troika for the warm reception here, and for the very effective working relationship we’ve had this year. In that regard, thanks go also to the Luxembourg and British presidencies, during whose tenures we were included in and began to develop the ENP Action Plan. We welcome the Austrian presidency and look forward to concluding our ENP Action Plan during their term.

This regular Armenia-EU meeting is taking place against the background of important developments in Armenia’s European integration processes.

- ENP AP consultations have successfully begun.

- Our Constitutional reform commitments have been completed.

- Progress in NK settlement talks gives ground for optimism as regards peace, stability, prosperity and cooperation resolution in the South Caucasus.

- Our NATO IPAP has been concluded, and Armenia is a member of IPAP.

2005 was a year of important political dialogue as well: regular exchanges, engagement of the EU Special representative, the EU Troika, the Foreign Minister and the Commissioners. Intensified contacts culminated in President Kocharian’s visit to Brussels in October, and today’s meeting.

Let me take up two issues. Regarding the ENP Action plan:

We are glad that there is broad consensus on the priorities identified in the Action Plan. We view the ENP Action Plan as a tool for enhanced political and economic reforms.
We acknowledge that political reform – a second generation of reforms – those focusing on democracy, human rights and rule of law will be of primary importance and will require concerted efforts. Armenia’s government efforts to address these issues and tackle corruption, poverty and other outstanding problems should now be supported by proper enforcement of the amended Constitution.

Regarding the Nagorno Karabakh conflict: We discussed this issue extensively during our meetings. We believe that the progress registered in 2005 – thru the Prague process between the foreign ministers and especially the meetings of the presidents – have created a solid foundation for registering further forward movement in 2006. We reaffirm that the resolution of the conflict will be based on mutual compromise, thru negotiations, by peaceful means, and in this regard, Armenia has demonstrated sufficient flexibility to enable us to come closer to peace and cooperation in our region.