Despite Armenia's signing the Association Agreement or not, it has always been and still remains a fully-fledged member of the Council of Europe, the head of the Council of Europe office in Yerevan, Oleksandr Pavlyuk, said at today's press-conference when replying to the question, what place will Armenia occupy in the CU after its joining the Customs Union.
He said that the Council of Europe is the biggest European structure that unites 47 countries having the Customs agreements. In this context, he added that members of the Customs Union, for instance, Russia and Armenia, are also members of the Council of Europe. As for Armenia-Council of Europe relations, he said that for 11 years of membership in the CU, Armenia has gained significant progress in the sphere of democracy and human rights protection,
We are ready to support your country and assist these efforts, he said and added that he is confident that Armenia-CU programme for 2012-2014 will promote development of reforms.