Lena Badeyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs Gagik Minasyan is confident Armenia will join the Eurasian Economic Union by July 1st.
According to him, Nagorno Karabakh will become de facto part of the Eurasian economic space without joining the Eurasian Economic Union, the products made in Karabakh will have the same status as those made in EEU member states.
Gagik Minasyan said Armenia’s membership in the Union will open new economic perspectives for Nagorno Karabakh. He noted that Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh comprise a common economic space, and there can be no customs checkpoint between the two.
The lawmaker reminded that Nagorno Karabakh will not be the only “unrecognized” republic to be de facto included in the economic space of the Union. “Russian President Vladimir Putin has already signed agreements eliminating the customs borders with South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” he reminded.
Speaking about the recent meeting in Astana, where Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Armenia could join the Eurasian Economic Union with borders recognized by the UN and read out Azeri President Ilham Aliyev’s statement, Gagikk Minasyan said “it cannot be of any significance.”
“With this step Nazarbayev attempted to reinforce his positions by demonstrating that the Turkish-speaking peoples have their advocate in his face,” Gagik Minasyan said. He reminded that the Kazakh leader had raised the issue of borders when the “roadmap” was signed, but the proposal was not supported by the Presidents of Belarus and Russia. “In Astana Nazarbayev made the statement on behalf of the President of Azerbaijan as he did not want to lose for a second time,” Minasyan said.
