Subsequent EU-Armenia meeting on Justice, Freedom and Security was held

Today, the 9^th EU-Armenia Subcommittee meeting on Justice, Freedom and Security was held under the co-chairmanship of Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Vigen Kocharyan and Dirk Schuebel, Head of Division Eastern Partnership bilateral, European External Action Service. Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia Piotr Świtalski; representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, the Police of the Republic of Armenia, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Armenia, the National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia, the State Migration Service of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development of the Republic of Armenia, as well as representatives of the delegation of the European Commission, international organisations and embassies of EU member states to the Republic of Armenia participated in the discussions.

In his opening speech, Deputy Minister Kocharyan, touching upon the changes conditioned by interior political events in Armenia, reaffirmed the willingness of the Government of the Republic of Armenia to implement the international commitments assumed by the Republic of Armenia, including within the scope of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement concluded between the Republic of Armenia and the European Union on 24 November 2017.

In his speech, Dirk Schuebel, Head of Division Eastern Partnership bilateral, European External Action Service, stressed the willingness of the EU to further deepen the existing multi-sector co-operation and assist in effective implementation of the ongoing reforms.

Certain issues on migration and mobility, the fight against human trafficking and corruption, prevention of crimes, judicial-legal reforms, judicial co-operation, the fight against cybercrimes and personal data protection were discussed during the meeting.

In the context of further steps towards migration and mobility, which were included in the agenda of the meeting, Dirk Schuebel and other EU representatives touched upon the issues on implementation of the agreements on visa facilitation and readmission, co-operation over mobility, as well as shelter, border management and document security. The representatives of the relevant sectors gave answers to all the questions raised and related to the steps taken, the current situation and the future actions.

In his speech, Deputy Minister of Justice Vigen Kocharyan touched upon the steps that have been taken in the judicial-legal sector and in the sphere of the fight against corruption in the Republic of Armenia during recent years, attaching importance to continuity of the activities being carried out in this direction and underlining the EU partners' support to the efforts for modernisation of the penitentiary system, as well as the bilateral and multilateral co-operation in the fields of mutual legal assistance and judicial co-operation.

At the end of the meeting, the EU reaffirmed its willingness to deepen and enhance the provision of financial and technical assistance to Armenia for consistent implementation of reforms by the Republic of Armenia within the scope of strengthening of rule of law, ensuring of security, reforms in the justice sector, as well as the fight against corruption, human trafficking and terrorism.

After the meeting, operational conclusions reached through mutual agreement of the parties were enshrined, and the process of implementation of the conclusions will be considered during the next meeting.