Armenia can develop economic ties with EU by means of adapted association agreement – Khosrov Harutyunyan

In an interview with Tert.am, Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) parliamentary group member Khosrov Harutyunyan noted that Armenia does not need to make use of Georgia’s association with the European Union (EU) similarly to Azerbaijan, which received a relevant proposal from Georgia.

According to him, Armenia has a much more serious instrument, namely, the GSP+, with neither Azerbaijan nor Georgia having this instrument at hand.

“I do not think different migration policies toward Azerbaijan and Armenia will be implemented. As regards economic policy, Georgia’s association agreement with the EU, it should be noted Georgia is rather considerate of Azerbaijan. That is, Georgian-Azerbaijani relations are different from Georgian-Armenian relations,” Mr Harutyunyan said.

In this context, he pointed out issues related to energy carriers, security, territory and national communication sectors.

“This is the reason for Georgia seeking to establish more beneficial relations with Azerbaijan because, I say again, Georgia depends on Azerbaijan. Georgia is offering Azerbaijan to make use of the nascent economic tries. I cannot say why it is not offering the same to Armenia, but I can say Armenia has a much more serious instrument, namely, the GSP+, (Generalized System of Preferences), which ensures a preferential export of 7,000 product items to the EU market. The system allows the export of a large number of Armenian products to the European market without customs problems, while neither Azerbaijan nor even Georgia, which signed an association agreement with the EU, can take advantage of that. Of course, the association agreement will open up new opportunities for Georgia. However, I do not think Georgia could offer us anything that would afford us new opportunities,” Mr Harutyunyan said.

According to him, Armenia can develop its economic ties with the EU by itself.

“There are talks about an adapted association agreement with Armenia within the European Commission, and the relevant work is progress. That is, Europeans have come to realize that the ‘either…or’ approach is unfavorable in any case, and the Ukraine developments are striking evidence thereof. That is why Armenia is going to cooperate with the EU using its own channels. And Armenia’s FM Edward Nalbandian recently took an active part in the Eastern Partnership summit.”