According to Daniel Ioannisyan, from the moment of entering the EaEU Agreement into effect, Armenia shall no longer be an independent country in terms of organizing free trade. “This is a serious agreement. It is going to normalize Armenia’s life in the coming decades”, announced Program Coordinator of “Union of Informed Citizens”, in the conversation with Aravot.am, referring to the draft of Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union. He believes that the agreement must be approved by referendum, only.
According to him, viewing the agreement as an agreement of economic benefit is not so serious. He resembles the draft as an agreement of partly unifying one state to the other. “Essentially, this assumes that we hand over a part of our government functions to Moscow, this is clearly mentioned, no need to think long to see it. Although, a year ago, Shavarsh Kocharyan was talking about it, but it is also understood by this draft that we officially hand over a part of our elements to Moscow.”
Daniel Ioannisyan considers the section of the agreement remarkable, which says that there will be a customs checkpoint installed on the border of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. This proved by the Customs Union’s Customs Code, Articles 2, 95, and 97. “The goods imported to Armenia from Artsakh shall pass customs clearance at the rates defined by the Customs Union, and the goods that will also be exported to other countries shall have even greater problems, because it will be impossible to mark on them “Made in the Republic of Armenia,” because they will already be imported to the Republic of Armenia. Now, it is indubitable that there should be a customs checkpoint.”
Referring to the economic aspect of the question, he said that it is noteworthy that customs tariff increase on some commodities has been protracted. According to him, the price for many of the goods will increase a short time later. “The prices for everything without exception will increase. This is clear and inevitable. It is only a matter of time. It is again most remarkable and extremely negative.” According to one of the clauses of the draft agreement, Armenia shall again conduct negotiations with the World Trade Organization and amend its membership rules. And the results of the negotiations, until it gets to final approval, shall be approved by the Eurasian Economic Council Commission. “Moscow becomes the decision-maker. Period. We have no more independence in this regard. We are no longer an independent state to negotiate with WTO and organize independent trade. From the moment of entering the agreement into effect, we shall not be an independent state on this matter, and this is made very clear.”
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Ami CHICHAKYAN
