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ODD MAN OUT: WILL ARMENIA BE ABLE TO INTEGRATE INTO EUROPEAN FREE TRADE ZONE BYPASSING RUSSIA?
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
01.06.12 | 13:14
Armenia is intensifying its economic ties with Europe and intends
to hold the first round of negotiations with the European Union on a
free trade agreement on June 19-20 in Brussels, said Armenia's Deputy
Economy Minister Garegin Melkonyan this week.
The Armenian government official noted that earlier a meeting of
the subcommittee on Armenia-EU trade cooperation was held. After the
signing of the agreement Armenia expects its foreign trade to grow
substantially and also looks to increase its production capacities.
According to Melkonyan, the European Union today is a major trading
partner for Armenia, considering that 47 percent of Armenia's exports
go to EU-member states.
EU delegation head Luc Devigne praised Armenia's steps towards reform.
"We are talking about the abolition of technical barriers to trade,
improving the competitive field and the sphere of intellectual
property. At the same time, much remains to be done. We hope that
the government will continue the reforms," he said.
Armenia's rapid European integration with the EU is seen by many
analysts as part of an attempt by the EU to quickly gain a foothold in
the South Caucasus to oust Russia from some of its current zones of
influence. Russia's newly elected President Vladimir Putin is known
to be actively promoting the idea of establishing a Eurasian Union,
a new economic reintegration project in the post-Soviet space. At
the level of its prime minister Armenia said it thought it would
be more expedient for itself to have just cooperation rather than
seek integration in that direction. The official, at the same time,
said Armenia was looking to Europe for integration.
"The prime minister of Armenia, if I understand correctly, has once
again stressed that on the one hand they are interested in intensifying
relations with the CIS, referring to the free trade agreements with
CIS-member countries, on the other hand, that they are interested in
boosting trade and economic and political relations with the EU. It
would be contradictory and impossible, for example, to accede to the
Deep and Comprehensive free Trade Area (DCFTA) agreement with the EU
and at the same time become part of the Eurasian and Customs Unions,"
commented German Ambassador to Armenia Hans-Jochen Schmidt recently.
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan himself thinks that integration
with Europe is important in terms of standardization of economic
conditions and gateways to the world market. "In the next two or
three years we expect hard meticulous work on the implementation of
European standards. It is no secret that Europeans set high standards
for production, storage, transportation and sale of goods. Profound
changes in technical processes, internal control systems are required
to comply with these standards. The economy must go through serious
qualitative changes. As a result, the free trade agreement with the
EU will provide substantial progress in Armenia, will significantly
increase its exports and imports, will significantly reduce the
trade deficit. For us this is important because Armenia has a great
potential for positioning in the global market as a country that
produces environmentally friendly products," said Sargsyan in an
article published recently in the Russian Vedomosti newspaper.
Interestingly, the announcement that Russian President Putin will pay a
visit to Armenia in early September was followed shortly by another one
of an impending visit by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
01.06.12 | 13:14
Armenia is intensifying its economic ties with Europe and intends
to hold the first round of negotiations with the European Union on a
free trade agreement on June 19-20 in Brussels, said Armenia's Deputy
Economy Minister Garegin Melkonyan this week.
The Armenian government official noted that earlier a meeting of
the subcommittee on Armenia-EU trade cooperation was held. After the
signing of the agreement Armenia expects its foreign trade to grow
substantially and also looks to increase its production capacities.
According to Melkonyan, the European Union today is a major trading
partner for Armenia, considering that 47 percent of Armenia's exports
go to EU-member states.
EU delegation head Luc Devigne praised Armenia's steps towards reform.
"We are talking about the abolition of technical barriers to trade,
improving the competitive field and the sphere of intellectual
property. At the same time, much remains to be done. We hope that
the government will continue the reforms," he said.
Armenia's rapid European integration with the EU is seen by many
analysts as part of an attempt by the EU to quickly gain a foothold in
the South Caucasus to oust Russia from some of its current zones of
influence. Russia's newly elected President Vladimir Putin is known
to be actively promoting the idea of establishing a Eurasian Union,
a new economic reintegration project in the post-Soviet space. At
the level of its prime minister Armenia said it thought it would
be more expedient for itself to have just cooperation rather than
seek integration in that direction. The official, at the same time,
said Armenia was looking to Europe for integration.
"The prime minister of Armenia, if I understand correctly, has once
again stressed that on the one hand they are interested in intensifying
relations with the CIS, referring to the free trade agreements with
CIS-member countries, on the other hand, that they are interested in
boosting trade and economic and political relations with the EU. It
would be contradictory and impossible, for example, to accede to the
Deep and Comprehensive free Trade Area (DCFTA) agreement with the EU
and at the same time become part of the Eurasian and Customs Unions,"
commented German Ambassador to Armenia Hans-Jochen Schmidt recently.
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan himself thinks that integration
with Europe is important in terms of standardization of economic
conditions and gateways to the world market. "In the next two or
three years we expect hard meticulous work on the implementation of
European standards. It is no secret that Europeans set high standards
for production, storage, transportation and sale of goods. Profound
changes in technical processes, internal control systems are required
to comply with these standards. The economy must go through serious
qualitative changes. As a result, the free trade agreement with the
EU will provide substantial progress in Armenia, will significantly
increase its exports and imports, will significantly reduce the
trade deficit. For us this is important because Armenia has a great
potential for positioning in the global market as a country that
produces environmentally friendly products," said Sargsyan in an
article published recently in the Russian Vedomosti newspaper.
Interestingly, the announcement that Russian President Putin will pay a
visit to Armenia in early September was followed shortly by another one
of an impending visit by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.