Yerevan /Mediamax/. First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments of Armenia Garegin Melkonyan said that in one year Armenia and the EU "carried out efficient and constructive work”.

A year ago, on 7 December 2015, Armenia and the EU launched negotiations on the new Framework Agreement.

Garegin Melkonyan told Mediamax that the next phase of the negotiations was scheduled on December 13-14 in Brussels. Another meeting will take place in February 2017.

He noted that the talks would finish “once we agree upon all issues of the bilateral agenda”.

EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn said in the exclusive interview to Mediamax in November, “Good progress has been achieved already in the negotiations, but we should not underestimate the remaining challenges, notably in the area of trade.”

In his comments to this statement Garegin Melkonyan said:

“There are issues in need of additional discussions. This is where Armenia’s commitments to other integration formats will or might interfere, in particular, conditioned by membership in the Eurasian Economic Union.”

“We made productive efforts in many issues. However, there are still some points, sensitive in terms of economic interest both for us and the EU. The sensitivity shows in the difference between the parties’ expectations and approaches in certain issues,” the Deputy Minister told Mediamax.

Garegin Melkonyan informed that the “Investments” chapter of the negotiated agreement was still open, as the European side had not presented it to Armenia officially.

“We hope to be able to begin talks on this part as well in the nearest future,” Garegin Melkonyan said.