Armenia wants to cooperate with EU and to be integrated in processes in post-soviet space
30.05.2013,
20:14
Armenia doesn’t seek membership in the European Union and in the Customs Union to take part in both EU and post-Soviet free trade zones, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan is quoted by Novosti-Armenia News Agency as saying today in the National Assembly at a discussion of the gover
YEREVAN, May 30. /ARKA/. Armenia doesn’t seek membership in the European Union and in the Customs Union to take part in both EU and post-Soviet free trade zones, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan is quoted by Novosti-Armenia News Agency as saying today in the National Assembly at a discussion of the government’s report about the 2012 budget performance.
“If you refrain from taking such steps, it means you can be a member of both EU and post-Soviet free trade zones, and Armenia is doing this,” he said.
Explaining this, Kocharyan said that if Armenia seeks EU membership or obtains it, the country can’t sign a free trade zone treaty with the Commonwealth of Independent States or cooperate with the Customs Union.
“And vice versa, if you become a member of the Customs Union, you are no longer free in taking many steps,” he said. “In this case you make the European Union’s Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreement impossible for you.”
Answering a question about Russia’s reaction to Armenia’s negotiations with the European Union over the Association Agreement and the Free Trade Zone Agreement, Kocharyan said that there are various approaches to the matter, but Russia’s leadership says European and Eurasian integrations don’t contradict each other.
The EU has been negotiating the EU-Armenia 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.
The EU-Armenia Association Agreement is planned to be signed on November 28 or 29 in Vilnius at an Eastern Partnership summit.---0---
