Last week, Deputy-Speaker of the Parliament of Belarus, Victor Guminsky, was in Armenia on a working visit. On Sunday, September 15, at the interview with the journalists, he announced that there are obstacles in Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union. Director of the Armenian Branch of the CIS institute, also Professor Alexander Makarov, in the conversation with Aravot.am, told that there are obstacles and challenges on the way to the accession to the Union, some of which are objective and others subjective.
One of the problems, according to him, is that there are certain contradictions within the Union driven by economy. “The conditions, under which Russia has appeared today, given the existence of sanctions, it is clear that neither Belarus nor Kazakhstan are willing to act as a role-player, and it can also be implied to them. But in intermediated form, it is clear that these countries are facing this problem, and it somehow hampers the economic developments that are expected during the formation of the Union.”
Mr. Makarov considers that there are problems that Armenia partly has overcome. “If we take into account that in the Custom field Armenia had a friendlier regime from the perspective of some of the products than what is provided within the framework of the Customs Union, but to some extent it is overcome.” According to him, so far Armenia has both positive and negative signals on membership and involvement in the Union. Positive signals include Russia’s positive attitude to Armenia’s accession and official and semi- positive feedback from Kazakhstan. “Belarus contains some element of objectivity, but the problem is whether there is a general political willingness about Armenia’s accession, or to move this issue to a later future.”
Ami CHICHAKYAN
