Armenia likely sign DCFTA by the end of this year: Deputy minister
10.04.2013,
21:44
Armenia is very likely to sign the deep and comprehensive free trade area (DCFTA) agreement with the EU by the end of the year, according to a deputy economy minister Garegin Melkonyan.
YEREVAN, April 10. / ARKA /. Armenia is very likely to sign the deep and comprehensive free trade area (DCFTA) agreement with the EU by the end of the year, according to a deputy economy minister Garegin Melkonyan.
"If the agreement is not signed by then, Armenia and the EU will be very close to it at any rate. The sides have reconciled and approved the bulk of the agreement text. The rest is being negotiated," Melkonyan said during the presentation of a book called "Armenia - EU: Economic Relations", released by the Centre for European Studies of Yerevan State University.
According to him, the goal for Armenia as a country with a small market is to make foreign markets more accessible not only to promote sales of Armenian products but also attract potential investors.
"It is quite a different thing when you are simply a three-million market country, and when you are a country with an access to EU markets", he said.
He said Armenia has already signed multilateral free trade agreements with former Soviet republics. The next goal is to achieve similar trade relationship with the EU, which is Armenia’s major trading partner.
He said a great deal of job is to be done to develop a package of tariffs to join EU’s free trade area, because this transition should be smooth, visible and predictable, given the fact that Armenia’s revenue from customs duties will decrease in the first period.
He said the next round of talks on Armenia’s accession to DCFTA is scheduled for April 16-17 to be followed by several more rounds this year.
The book "Armenia - EU: Economic Relations" consists of an analysis of the macroeconomic environment in Armenia, its foreign trade and EU's influence on these processes. The analysis is based on data up to 2011.-0-
