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ARMENIA ATTEMPTS A EURASIAN TANGO IN ARGENTINA
EurasiaNet.org
July 9 2014
July 9, 2014 - 11:42am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Taking its Eurasian-Union dreams into the Western Hemisphere,
Armenia has offered itself to Argentina as a conduit for trade with
the Russia-led economic club, even though Yerevan is still knocking
on the Union's door for entry.
At a July 7 lunch-reception in Buenos Aires, Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan raised a glass to the Argentine city, "the world capital of
tango, [a city] filled with the melody and spirit of that dance,"
and thanked Argentina, home to one of the world's largest Armenian
Diasporas, for supporting the pan-Armenian cause of international
recognition of Ottoman Turkey's World-War-I-era massacre of ethnic
Armenians as genocide. A day later, he attended the opening of an
Armenian Genocide Museum in Buenos Aires.
Sargsyan, though, had more than 1915 and tangos on his mind. In a
pointed nod to Argentina's status as Armenia's fifth-largest foreign
direct investor, Armenia encouraged this "football superpower"
to pass some trade via Armenia into the Eurasian-Union-market of
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Argentina's official response could
not be found.
But President Sargsyan could be getting ahead of himself here.
Armenia's own entrance into the Eurasian Union has been repeatedly
delayed, with the latest prospective join-date now "by the end of
the year," according to Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian.
The repeated postponements have been fraying nerves in Yerevan -- some
argue that Karabakh could be the cause -- and encouraging critics'
objections to the membership bid.
Some Armenian analysts point out that Moscow has a fish bigger to
fry than Armenia -- namely, hydrocarbon-rich Azerbaijan, the South
Caucasus' biggest economy (citing World Bank data, the pro-government
APA compares it to the combined economic muscle of Armenia, Georgia,
Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova) and, unlike Armenia, shares a
border with Russia.
So far, however, Moscow has failed to tempt Baku away from its
no-trade-blocs policy. Nonetheless, the thinking is that the Kremlin
will try to keep its options open by treading carefully on the subject
of Karabakh.
With all these complexities, Argentina, even if interested, might
have a long time to wait for Armenia to execute its proposed barrida
to the Eurasian Union.
EurasiaNet.org
July 9 2014
July 9, 2014 - 11:42am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Taking its Eurasian-Union dreams into the Western Hemisphere,
Armenia has offered itself to Argentina as a conduit for trade with
the Russia-led economic club, even though Yerevan is still knocking
on the Union's door for entry.
At a July 7 lunch-reception in Buenos Aires, Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan raised a glass to the Argentine city, "the world capital of
tango, [a city] filled with the melody and spirit of that dance,"
and thanked Argentina, home to one of the world's largest Armenian
Diasporas, for supporting the pan-Armenian cause of international
recognition of Ottoman Turkey's World-War-I-era massacre of ethnic
Armenians as genocide. A day later, he attended the opening of an
Armenian Genocide Museum in Buenos Aires.
Sargsyan, though, had more than 1915 and tangos on his mind. In a
pointed nod to Argentina's status as Armenia's fifth-largest foreign
direct investor, Armenia encouraged this "football superpower"
to pass some trade via Armenia into the Eurasian-Union-market of
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Argentina's official response could
not be found.
But President Sargsyan could be getting ahead of himself here.
Armenia's own entrance into the Eurasian Union has been repeatedly
delayed, with the latest prospective join-date now "by the end of
the year," according to Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian.
The repeated postponements have been fraying nerves in Yerevan -- some
argue that Karabakh could be the cause -- and encouraging critics'
objections to the membership bid.
Some Armenian analysts point out that Moscow has a fish bigger to
fry than Armenia -- namely, hydrocarbon-rich Azerbaijan, the South
Caucasus' biggest economy (citing World Bank data, the pro-government
APA compares it to the combined economic muscle of Armenia, Georgia,
Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova) and, unlike Armenia, shares a
border with Russia.
So far, however, Moscow has failed to tempt Baku away from its
no-trade-blocs policy. Nonetheless, the thinking is that the Kremlin
will try to keep its options open by treading carefully on the subject
of Karabakh.
With all these complexities, Argentina, even if interested, might
have a long time to wait for Armenia to execute its proposed barrida
to the Eurasian Union.