Thursday, May 29 2014

 Armenia has displayed high flexibility and constructivism in participation in Eurasian integration project, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said during the enlarged meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Astana. The heads of the member states of the Council, namely, Russian President Vladimir Putin, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, as well as the heads of the observer states, namely, the Presidents of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan attended the meeting.       
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Serzh Sargsyan expressed confidence that the Eurasian Economic Union, whose Agreement was signed on May 29 by the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, will determine the further development of its member countries. "Undoubtedly, this is the result of the efforts of a big number of experts and officials, who overcame obstacles and discrepancies, found compromise proposals and did everything possible to coordinate a mutually acceptable document. But all this would be impossible without the political will of the Heads of States and without the vision of Eurasianism laid in the basis of this integration model," he said.  

Concerning Armenia's joining the Eurasian integration process, Sargsyan said: "In a coordinated effort with the Eurasian Economic Commission and relevant authorities from Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, we have drafted an agreement for Armenia's accession to the Agreement on the Eurasian Economic Union. So, I would like to thank all members of the Customs Union and the Eurasian Commission for their professionalism and efficiency." 
According to Sargsyan, one more reason this has become possible is that in the last years Armenia has implemented a number of crucial institutional reforms."
The President said that since Armenia is eager to join the Eurasian integration process as soon as it can, it is trying to be as flexible and constructive as possible.
According to Sargsyan, there are several reasons why Armenia is interested in signing the agreement to join the Eurasian Economic Union as soon as possible: first of all, the relevant road map envisages accession in Jan 2015, and, secondly, once the country signs the agreement, it will have to adopt almost 200 legislative acts and to conduct a number of crucial system reforms, which will take no less than six months.

"Since we have just two-three points to settle and since experts have already suggested compromise solutions to them, I would like to ask you to fix the deadline for Armenia's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union for no later than June 15 2014. If you are ready, I am sure that in two-three days we will be able to find mutually acceptable solutions. I hope that our today's meeting will be a starting point for both the Eurasian Economic Union and its enlargement. For my part, I confirm my commitment to take all necessary measures to submit the agreement once it is signed for the Armenian Parliament's consideration within as short a period of time as possible," the President said.

Meanwhile, according to Russian mass media, the signatory states believe that Armenia may sign the agreement no earlier than July 1 2014. Even more, according to Nazarbayev, Azerbaijan insists that Armenia should join the Eurasian Economic Union within the borders it had when joining the WTO. "We have received a letter from the Azerbaijani President saying that Armenia joined the WTO with a proviso that the WTO's requirements should cover the territory recognized by the UN. And think this point should be discussed," RIA Novosti quotes the Kazakh President as saying.