On March 2, the “Visegrad Group+” Ministerial meeting dedicated to the Eastern Partnership took place in Budapest. The delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Karine Kazinian, which also included Head of Armenian Mission at the EU Ambassador Avet Adonts and Ambassador of Armenia in Hungary Ashot Hovakimian, participated in the meeting.

High-ranking representatives of Visegrad Group – Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and countries included in the Eastern Partnership, Baltic states, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, as well as Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy attended the session chaired by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Balázs.

In the course of the meeting the participants discussed the current stage of implementation of the Eastern Partnership, outlined those areas of multilateral cooperation, where the format can be more effective.

At the conference, Deputy Foreign Minister Karine Kazinian delivered a speech, where she  mentioned that Armenia intends to more strengthen cooperation with the EU and its member states. She stressed Armenia’s determination to sign a new Agreement with the EU and expressed hope that the experience of the Eastern European countries would be useful within that context.

Attaching importance to the decentralization of events organised under Partnership's umbrella, Mrs. Kazinian mentioned that Armenia is ready to host some meetings organized in multilateral formats, particularly within the framework of people-to-people dimension. She attracted a special attention on the issue of visa facilitation, as it would significantly promote the contacts between the societies and people.

Deputy Minister attached importance to the regional cooperation within the framework of the Eastern Partnership by emphasizing that some countries’ denial of the interaction offered by the program could harm the success of the Partnership.

In a response to the remarks of the Azerbaijani side that the EU is not clearly recognizing the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan Mrs. Kazinian first mentioned that the people of Nagorno Karabakh has self-determined according to the international and soviet laws. She added that the EU Eastern Partnership is not eligible to solve conflicts - there are appropriate formats for them.

The strengthening of the atmosphere of confidence could promote the settlement of political issues, and for that Azerbaijan should first stop its militaristic and antiarmenian rhetoric.

Within the frameworks of the conference Mrs. Kazinian had a meeting with Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy. They discussed Armenian-EU cooperation bilateral agenda, as well as regional issues.