Republican Party of Armenia

Eurasian Intergovernmental Council Meets to Discuss Furtherance of Cooperation between EAEU Member States

A regular meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council was held today.

The heads of EAEU-member State governments got photographed prior to the meeting. The meeting started in a narrow format, followed by an enlarged one. Welcoming the participants, Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan said the current stage of development of the Eurasian Economic Union is marked by a positive dynamics in the formation of a common market of goods and services.

“A solid a contractual basis has already been established within the Eurasian Economic Union along with well-developed cooperation mechanisms. Concerted effort in this direction will no doubt help promote the socio-economic development of our countries, improve the competitiveness of our economies and the degree of their involvement in the global economy,” Hovik Abrahamyan noted.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of building international cooperation in different formats, establishing closer trade and economic relations between the Eurasian Economic Union and third countries, which will upgrade the Union’s status. In this context, the head of the Armenian government singled out the cooperation with China as a key item on the agenda.

He pointed out that the streamlining of cooperation with the People’s Republic of China will not only allow the Eurasian Economic Union to increase the volume of trade, but also to raise funds for large infrastructure projects, diversify logistics capabilities.

From this perspective, Hovik Abrahamyan highlighted the efforts aimed at promoting the Eurasian project and creating the Silk Road economic zone, which will connect trade routes in Europe and Asia through the Eurasian Economic Union, including Armenia, as well as via India and Iran.

As Hovik Abrahamyan noted, strong with long historical experience and being the only country in the Eurasian Economic Union bordering Iran, Armenia is prepared to implement this project. According to him, special attention should be paid to the establishment of common markets in the Eurasian Economic Union, which will help remove the existing barriers to the free movement of goods, bolster economic cooperation between the States. In this context, he stressed the importance of adopting a concept note on a single oil and oil products market.

“We stand for the adoption of mutually agreed draft instruments covering different areas of cooperation in the Eurasian Economic Union,” Hovik Abrahamyan said, wishing the participants fruitful work and making mutually acceptable decisions.

Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedev thanked the Armenian side for reception, as well as for providing an atmosphere of hospitality and a work-friendly environment. He stressed the importance of periodic meetings as a means for intensifying integration processes and focusing on priority tasks.

Dmitry Medvedev stressed the need to consolidate the contract basis of the Union, ensure free movement of goods, services, capital and workforce, remove the existing barriers and restrictions, as well as to establish single markets in the key economic sectors.

The Prime Minister of Russia also stressed the importance of rapid adoption of the Customs Code of the Eurasian Economic Union in order to provide straightforward, predictable and business-friendly procedures and regulations.

Dmitry Medvedev made a point of developing trade relations with key partners, including China, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.

Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov thanked Prime Minister Abrahamyan for the warm welcome and hospitality, noting that Kazakhstan proposed to declare 2016 a landmark year in terms of developing economic relations with third countries and expanding integration processes. He noted the importance of building free trade relationship with such countries as India, Egypt, Iran, and others. According to Massimov, the EAEU was established as an open economic community, and it needs to focus on technological development and investment attraction.

Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov noted in his speech the priority of the concept of formation of common oil and oil products markets and the general importance of adopting the Customs Code of the Eurasian Economic Union.

According to Prime Minister of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Zheenbekov, Kyrgyzstan is making targeted and consistent efforts to promote cooperation with the EAEU countries. He said his country intends to actively promote the Eurasian integration and jointly find new ways of improving the competitiveness of economies and opportunities EAEU States.

During the meeting, the Heads of Government of EAEU-member States discussed about a dozen issues of further cooperation in the framework of the EAEU. In particular, they stressed the need to adopt a concept of common oil and oil products markets, enforce the Protocol on coordinated (concerted) transport policy, draft decisions of the Eurasian Economic Commission, the report on the enrollment and distribution of import duties between the budgets of EAEU-member States, the deadlines for preparation of the Treaty on the EAEU Customs Code and so on.

The meeting approved and ratified the aforementioned documents, which reinforce cooperation between EAEU-member States in numerous sectors of the economy. The sides signed a document on negotiations over the agreement on trade and economic cooperation between the member States and China.

It was decided to hold the next meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council on August 12 in Sochi. After the meeting, an electronic control system of marking of goods manufactured and imported in Armenia was introduced to the heads of government.

* * *

EAEC Board Chairman and Kazakhstan Prime Minister Make Statements for Media

Following today’s meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Yerevan, EAEC Board Chairman Tigran Sargsyan and Prime Minister Karim Massimov of Kazakhstan met with media representatives and issued statements summarizing the outcome of the meeting. Following is the full text of statements made by Tigran Sargsyan and Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Massimov.

Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Massimov – The Eurasian Intergovernmental Council met today in Armenia to discuss a number of important questions in the run up to the upcoming meeting of EAEU Heads of State, which is to be held on May 31 in Astana.

A number of key parameters were established. In particular, a draft concept note was agreed upon on a single oil and petroleum products market within the EAEU. I consider it to be a cornerstones document, which had been discussed for a long time. We also discussed the Customs Code and the deadlines for its adoption.

We decided today that at the two forthcoming meetings of Heads of Government due on August 12 in Sochi and on October 28 in Minsk, we will try to finalize the draft Customs Code and other documents that are important in terms of development.

Today’s meeting was held in an atmosphere of constructive dialogue. I am confident that it will go a long way toward developing our economic union. Thank you.

Eurasian Economic Commission (EAEC) Board Chairman Tigran Sargsyan - Dear colleagues, you may know that 2016 has been declared a landmark year for broadening and deepening trade and economic relations between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and third countries and international organizations. In this respect, the first item on the agenda was which way we were going to negotiate with the People’s Republic of China.

The agreement on economic and trade relations between the EAEU and China is crucial for us to push ahead along the lines outlined by the Heads of State of EAEU-member countries.

Based on the dialogue and interviews that took place today between the Heads of Government, we can state that we have a general idea of how to build that dialogue. The main objective is to create more favorable conditions for economic entities and citizens in our countries. We are convinced that there is great potential to build the right relationship in order to promote economic growth in our countries.

The second conceptual document, which was finalized today relates to the formation of a single oil and oil products market. Either the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council discussed this issue at its previous session. There was an open discussion on the positions of the parties, and we can state now that the document has been agreed upon. It will be submitted to our presidents for approval later this month at a meeting in Astana.

The agenda featured other issues relating to various aspects of activities in the Eurasian economic space. The objective is to create more favorable conditions for businesses. Another fundamental document is the Customs Code.

Note that a principled agreement has been reached on basic and conceptual issues. There are a number of issues on which we have agreed to continue discussions in Sochi, and we hope to finalize and approve the document at the next meeting in Minsk. Thank you.