02/12/2013 20:16
T. Sargsyan: Decision to join CU is weighed and rationally grounded
The aspiration to ensure sustainable economic growth and competition underlies Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union which is of strategic importance to us, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said at the 3rd Armenian-Russian interregional forum held in Gyumri, according to the press office of the Armenian government.
‘The search for mechanisms and ways of solution of this crucial problem led us to a natural and reasonable conclusion about the necessity of full membership in the integration union, whose members are our political partners, CSTO member states, and our major economic partners,” the prime minister said.
In his words, economic cooperation with Russia is of primary importance to Armenia. Russia is the main trade partner of Armenia and the largest investor in the Armenian economy, which is important for development of the country’s infrastructure.
“No doubt, since the independence the economic relations of our countries have been of a developing nature. Maintaining such dynamics of relations required a complex improvement of mechanisms. Yet at the moment we reached the highest point of our cooperation which can be achieved by using a set of usual mechanisms for building bilateral relations,” the prime minister said.
According to him, the tactics of further development of economic ties between Armenia and Russia, which is reflected in the long-term economic cooperation program until 2020 should be aimed at diversification of trade and economic relations and ensuring structural and technological modernization between the two countries.
The prime minister said these problems can be solved only in an economic environment that rules out obstacles to mutual integration of the economies of the two countries. So Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union was weighed and rationally grounded. It was conditioned by the aspiration to create conditions for a competitive and successfully developing economy.