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ARMENIA HAS TO BUILD UP RELATIONS WITH EURASIAN UNION: PRIME MINISTER SAYS
YEREVAN, December 5. / ARKA /. Armenia has to build up relations
with the Eurasian Union and implement measures to deepen and broaden
them, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said today during a
Q&A parliament session.
"Armenia has a vital interest in this matter, and it means that we
have to deepen and broaden our relations with the Eurasian Union. I
am sure that it is in the interests of Armenia, and we will go in
this direction,~T he said.
He said during the latest meeting of the Armenian-Russian
intergovernmental commission on cooperation the parties signed a
document whereby Armenia should cooperate with Customs Union (Russia,
Kazakhstan and Belarus) and the Eurasian Economic Commission on some
trade related issues.
"Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus have already transferred much of
their powers to the Customs Union and the Eurasian Commission and
will transfer more,~R Sargsyan said.
He said that from now on Armenia will have to discuss bilateral
economic issues with these countries in the framework of these
structures, "just as we are working with the EU."
He also stressed that Armenia does not think that its European and
Eurasian integrations are conflicting. "On the contrary, we see that
it is a complementary process. We signed, and the parliament ratified
the agreement on free trade within the CIS. Today, we are in talks
with the EU on free trade zone," he added.
The idea of the Eurasian Union was first proposed in 1994 by Kazakh
President Nursultan Nazarbayev. In early October 2011, in an article
for "Izvestia" daily Russia~Rs Putin wrote that the Eurasian Union
could be set up on the basis of the customs union of Russia, Belarus
and Kazakhstan. The article said the Eurasian Union is not an attempt
to restore former Soviet Union or replace the CIS, but an effective
"link" between Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, with close
coordination of economic and monetary policies of member states.
The EU has been negotiating an Association Agreement with Armenia
since July 2010 in the framework of the Eastern Partnership and the
European Neighborhood Policy. The future Deep and Comprehensive Free
Trade Area will be part of this Agreement, which aims at closely
associating this country to the EU both in economic and political
terms, in line with the Eastern Partnership objectives. The future
trade relations will therefore expand significantly beyond the scope
of current cooperation, set out in the Partnership and Cooperation
Agreements, in force since July 1999. -0-
YEREVAN, December 5. / ARKA /. Armenia has to build up relations
with the Eurasian Union and implement measures to deepen and broaden
them, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said today during a
Q&A parliament session.
"Armenia has a vital interest in this matter, and it means that we
have to deepen and broaden our relations with the Eurasian Union. I
am sure that it is in the interests of Armenia, and we will go in
this direction,~T he said.
He said during the latest meeting of the Armenian-Russian
intergovernmental commission on cooperation the parties signed a
document whereby Armenia should cooperate with Customs Union (Russia,
Kazakhstan and Belarus) and the Eurasian Economic Commission on some
trade related issues.
"Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus have already transferred much of
their powers to the Customs Union and the Eurasian Commission and
will transfer more,~R Sargsyan said.
He said that from now on Armenia will have to discuss bilateral
economic issues with these countries in the framework of these
structures, "just as we are working with the EU."
He also stressed that Armenia does not think that its European and
Eurasian integrations are conflicting. "On the contrary, we see that
it is a complementary process. We signed, and the parliament ratified
the agreement on free trade within the CIS. Today, we are in talks
with the EU on free trade zone," he added.
The idea of the Eurasian Union was first proposed in 1994 by Kazakh
President Nursultan Nazarbayev. In early October 2011, in an article
for "Izvestia" daily Russia~Rs Putin wrote that the Eurasian Union
could be set up on the basis of the customs union of Russia, Belarus
and Kazakhstan. The article said the Eurasian Union is not an attempt
to restore former Soviet Union or replace the CIS, but an effective
"link" between Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, with close
coordination of economic and monetary policies of member states.
The EU has been negotiating an Association Agreement with Armenia
since July 2010 in the framework of the Eastern Partnership and the
European Neighborhood Policy. The future Deep and Comprehensive Free
Trade Area will be part of this Agreement, which aims at closely
associating this country to the EU both in economic and political
terms, in line with the Eastern Partnership objectives. The future
trade relations will therefore expand significantly beyond the scope
of current cooperation, set out in the Partnership and Cooperation
Agreements, in force since July 1999. -0-