South Caucasus will join Eurasian integration processes, says Russian expert

Tert.am has interviewed Aleksey Martinov , a Russian economist who heads the Moscow-based Institute of Newest States.

Mr Martinov, it has been a long time since debates have been going on over adopting a common currency across the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). What advantages will that offer to the Union, especially Armenia?

Definitely, it will be a positive step. In Europe, for example, there used to be a common currency to regulate the internal turnover before the Euro went into circulation. The domestic currency did not apply to purchase transactions outside of the European Union, but it did work successfully as a domestic currency. This is what applies to our case; the Eurasian Economic Union will have a universal currency unit to facilitate payment procedures among the member states. For Armenia, this change will be of a strategic importance, as the country is now forced to recalculate all internal transactions in [US] Dollars. That results in a double currency exchange, bringing about losses. You very often have to purchase the Dollar with the Dram to pay, for example, Russia for the natural gas [supply]; Russia has then to buy Ruble with the Dollar and so on and so forth. This chain is not profitable. In case of a common currency, no losses will be ruled out.

Do you expect the Russian Ruble or any other currency to serve as such a common currency unit?

The currency’s name is not absolutely a point of principle here. What matters are the chances of having a conventional calculating unit acceptable to all to organize the internal transactions and trade turnover across the EEU.

When do you think will be the time for switching over to the common currency? Are the EEU member states ready for such a change now?

I think the simpler the process, the better. The Eurasia Economic Union was created for that very purpose to be economically advantageous to all. It is not a political body. Politics, of course, is not privy to that as a continuation of the economic component, but the EEU is first of all an economic union. So I believe the switchover to a common currency fits within our logic.

Mr Martinov, the EEU’s possible cooperation with Iran and Armenia’s role as a linking channel in that process is time and again on the agenda. Do you consider Armenia a state connecting Iran with the Eurasian Economic Union?

Yes, definitely. The European integration deals first of all with geography, history and the development of events. For Armenia, perhaps, [the United States of] America is not very far given that there are more Armenians there than in Armenia; anyway, geography implies activities here. That’s why we all are here. Armenia today is a pioneer in the South Caucasus, but we believe the entire South Caucasus will become a participant in Eurasian integration.

Do you also mean Azerbaijan?
 

Sure. And why not? We all used to be a particle of the huge Soviet empire. And don’t think it is nostalgia; not absolutely. From the perspective of our economy, that offers advantages to all.

What about negotiations over Azerbaijan’s membership in the EEU?

I haven’t personally taken part in such negotiations, but I am confident that they will be held with not only Azerbaijan but also Georgia and Iran, as the deal is over a big union, an integration structure.

Do you think that the EEU may ultimately become a rival for the EU? Is it likely to have such a weight?

The idea behind creating the EEU was not [an ambition] to make it a rival to any [other] union or institution, but rather, the simple desire to  raise our advantages.  Nobody rules out or prevents cooperation with the EEU. On the contrary, that’s being encouraged. Europe will, sooner or later, shake off the US influence to find edges of cooperation with the EEU.