Official refuses comment on Eurasian Economic Union accession delay

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia’s Minister of Economy Karen Chshmarityan refused to comment whether Armenia will sign an agreement on accession to the Eurasian Economic Union, Tert.am reported.

The negotiations are still under way, Minister Chshmarityan told reporters in Armenia’s Parliament on Thursday, June 19.

With respect to the list of products that are not supposed to rise in price after Armenia joins the Eurasian Economic Union, the minister noted:

“We are working to prevent a rise in the prices of sensitive products after accession to the Eurasian Economic Union. It is difficult to make any forecasts now. In any case, essentials are among the exceptions. Even raw materials we use in production are on the list.

“That is, we have set clear standards, and the list of exceptions meets them. In general, if a product rises in price, it has its impact on other products. Products that are not on the list of sensitive products may be affected by a possible rise.”

Asked if Armenia could lose the European market, Minister Chshmarityan said:

“We don’t risk losing the European market as an export market due to the GPS+ system, which allows us to export about 6,000 product items to the European market duty-free. We have a different problem. Specifically, we have problems with packaging of agricultural products, fruits and vegetables. Our products do not meet certain requirements. We’ll work to resolve this problem as well.”