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Michael Kambeck: free trade agreement with Armenia important to EU
September 24, 2011 - 09:05 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The Warsaw-hosted Eastern Partnership summit is a
good signal for Armenia in terms of visa facilitation and free trade
agreement negotiations with EU, according to the Secretary General of
European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) non-governmental organisation.
As Dr. Michael Kambeck stated in a conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter, that although long overdue, negotiations for visa
facilitation are a step to visa free regime.
`In Warsaw, the negotiating parties will outline the roadmap for Deep
and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. I view it as a positive sign,
capable of changing so many things, including an enormous amount of
business laws. The whole way the market functions will be much more
organized according to European standards. I think this project is
really exciting and Armenia deserves it; it will be really good for
Armenia and also Europe.'
When asked to describe the advantages cooperation with Armenia will
pose to Europe, Dr. Kambeck explained, `Armenia is a small country,
but its not the size of the market that matters here; it's a so-called
bridge market, from Armenia you can go to lots of other markets, which
otherwise are much more difficult to explore.'
`As to opinion that Armenia-EU cooperation might be directed against
Russia, or speaking against being a strategic ally with Russia and be
economic partner of the EU, quite frankly, Russia and the EU could
have had their free trade agreements a long time ago. They're just too
big to agree on everything, and they will not manage for quite some
time. And they don't need it so much because each one is big enough in
itself. Since this is going to take an endless amount of time, till
Russia and the EU themselves can do this, why not go through Armenia.
People speak the language, they have the contacts, they know how to do
this, but they'll do it according to new standards and they will be
the bridge for European business and also for Russians to go into
Europe. So its good for everyone and in the middle sits Armenia. So
there's nobody with disadvantages, everyone profits. That's why I
think it's an exciting project.'
Commenting on the monopoly in Armenia, Dr. Kambeck characterized it as
one of the challenges of implementation of free trade agreement with
the country.
`However, if you look at the way the Armenian market is structured
today, and how it was structured 5, 10 years ago, you'll see a certain
shift. I think, Armenian general market will move away from monopolies
anyway, because even the monopolist has an interest in that, having a
chance to make more money if the general market becomes more solid and
grows more. If he keeps the whole market for himself, this market can
never grow beyond; meaning it's better to have a strong market share
in a big growing market than a 100% market share in a small market
which doesn't grow any further. This is why even the so-called
oligarchs themselves should be interested in breaking all this up and
moving ahead in a more pluralist system. Now there are some market
sectors where this will take longer time and some where it's very
urgent and it will go faster. I'm saying that because I know, even in
Europe there are still highly monopolized sectors. Event after 40-50
year, those countries didn't manage to break up those structures.'
As Dr. Kambeck further noted, civil society is very important in
European integration process. `The civil society is actively taking
part, with EU strongly increasing their programs of working with civil
society,' he said, expressing hope for initiation of smaller sized
programs to assist local NGOs.
September 24, 2011 - 09:05 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The Warsaw-hosted Eastern Partnership summit is a
good signal for Armenia in terms of visa facilitation and free trade
agreement negotiations with EU, according to the Secretary General of
European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) non-governmental organisation.
As Dr. Michael Kambeck stated in a conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter, that although long overdue, negotiations for visa
facilitation are a step to visa free regime.
`In Warsaw, the negotiating parties will outline the roadmap for Deep
and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. I view it as a positive sign,
capable of changing so many things, including an enormous amount of
business laws. The whole way the market functions will be much more
organized according to European standards. I think this project is
really exciting and Armenia deserves it; it will be really good for
Armenia and also Europe.'
When asked to describe the advantages cooperation with Armenia will
pose to Europe, Dr. Kambeck explained, `Armenia is a small country,
but its not the size of the market that matters here; it's a so-called
bridge market, from Armenia you can go to lots of other markets, which
otherwise are much more difficult to explore.'
`As to opinion that Armenia-EU cooperation might be directed against
Russia, or speaking against being a strategic ally with Russia and be
economic partner of the EU, quite frankly, Russia and the EU could
have had their free trade agreements a long time ago. They're just too
big to agree on everything, and they will not manage for quite some
time. And they don't need it so much because each one is big enough in
itself. Since this is going to take an endless amount of time, till
Russia and the EU themselves can do this, why not go through Armenia.
People speak the language, they have the contacts, they know how to do
this, but they'll do it according to new standards and they will be
the bridge for European business and also for Russians to go into
Europe. So its good for everyone and in the middle sits Armenia. So
there's nobody with disadvantages, everyone profits. That's why I
think it's an exciting project.'
Commenting on the monopoly in Armenia, Dr. Kambeck characterized it as
one of the challenges of implementation of free trade agreement with
the country.
`However, if you look at the way the Armenian market is structured
today, and how it was structured 5, 10 years ago, you'll see a certain
shift. I think, Armenian general market will move away from monopolies
anyway, because even the monopolist has an interest in that, having a
chance to make more money if the general market becomes more solid and
grows more. If he keeps the whole market for himself, this market can
never grow beyond; meaning it's better to have a strong market share
in a big growing market than a 100% market share in a small market
which doesn't grow any further. This is why even the so-called
oligarchs themselves should be interested in breaking all this up and
moving ahead in a more pluralist system. Now there are some market
sectors where this will take longer time and some where it's very
urgent and it will go faster. I'm saying that because I know, even in
Europe there are still highly monopolized sectors. Event after 40-50
year, those countries didn't manage to break up those structures.'
As Dr. Kambeck further noted, civil society is very important in
European integration process. `The civil society is actively taking
part, with EU strongly increasing their programs of working with civil
society,' he said, expressing hope for initiation of smaller sized
programs to assist local NGOs.