Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Tibor Navracsics, and the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Armenia, Armen Amiryan, will today sign an Agreement on Armenia's participation in the Creative Europe programme at a ceremony in Brussels. Commissioner Navracsics said: "I welcome this new opportunity to strengthen EU-Armenia cooperation through culture. The signature of this Agreement is one of the concrete deliverables of the EU strategy on international cultural relations. It represents a key achievement in strengthening the Eastern Partnership as Armenia is the fourth Eastern Partnership country, after Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, to join Creative Europe. I am very happy to be building bridges during our European Year of Cultural Heritage which is a great opportunity to increase awareness of our common cultural heritage across the continent." The Agreement will now have to be ratified by the Armenian Parliament before Armenian applicants are eligible to participate in the 2018 Creative Europe calls for proposals. Creative Europe is the European Commission's programme supporting cultural diversity and the competitiveness of the European cultural and creative sectors and foresees the participation of countries covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy. Armenia is joining the Culture sub-programme and the cross-sectoral strand of Creative Europe. The Agreement is an important step in the framework of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement signed in November 2017. Ahead of the signing ceremony, Commissioner Navracsics will have a bilateral meeting with Minister Amiryan. (For more information: Nathalie Vandystadt – Tel.: +32 229 67083; Joseph Waldstein – Tel.: +32 229 56184)