Political analyst says ad hoc group of experts should be set up to look into positive and negative sides of Eurasian union

YEREVAN, August 28. /ARKA/. Political analyst Levon Shirinyan says the authorities should set up an ad hoc group of experts to look into the positive and negative sides of the Eurasian Union, a new project for regional integration promoted aggressively by Russia.

"I think the Armenian National Security Council should set up a group of experts to study all the positive and negative sides of Armenia’s possible membership in the Eurasian Union.’ Shirinian told a news conference today.

According to him, the idea of the Eurasian Union fits into the traditional Russian concept of making Russia as one of the most powerful poles of the world. According to him, the idea of the Eurasian Union will be getting stronger as Russia itself will be getting stronger. When established it will encompass the Slavic states of Ukraine and Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Shirinian said Armenia should closely monitor the process of formation of the Eurasian Union and seek ways to strengthen its economic potential.

In November 2011, the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed a declaration on Eurasian economic integration – a "road map" of the integration process with the ultimate goal of establishing the Eurasian Economic Union.

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’s 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.-0-