Breakthroughs in many sectors anticipated in EAEU in 2018, ambassadors say

Ambassadors of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries to Armenia have summed up results of the leaving year at a conference entitled “Three Years of EAEU: Achievements and Prospects” held on sidelines of Eurasian Expert Club’s annual meeting. The diplomats say EAEU countries report positive results despite the policy of sanctions imposed on Russia.

EAEU countries should learn Armenia’s successes as an example of how to mobilize one’s resources in hard times and make a success, said Alexander Vasilyev, Adviser at the Russian Embassy in Armenia.

According to him, the country keeps showing good results - this is not just growth of trade, but also upward trends in the sectors very important for development of Armenia. The Embassy Adviser said Armenia pins big hopes with the processing industry and high technologies sector, where it has performed quite well recently.

Nevertheless, there are some nuances that are still relevant after three years of Eurasian integration. These are insufficient propaganda, since the country still needs to raise public awareness of how important the Eurasian integration is and what it serves for. It is important to understand that unlike other integration unions, EAEU is not excessively bureaucratized and is open to discussions and new ideas.

Ambassador of Belarus to Armenia Igor Nazaruk, in turn, believes that the year 2017 was not easy, and summarizing the results, one can say that a range of vital indicators have increased in EAEU. In 2018, a breakthrough is anticipated in many sections.

“Although in 2017, the growth was evident, the indicators could be higher and more tangible, if the EAEU countries did not feel the negative impact of the policy of sanctions by those who call themselves ‘the Great of the World’. However, in 2018, we anticipate even higher breakthrough and we are sure that Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) will do everything possible to that end. I am speaking also about completion of talks at various levels with third countries. One can state that EAEU is a full-fledged union and it is a very important element for building economic architecture with extremely high development capacity. In 2018, we will continue removing barriers and forming common energy markets,” Nazaruk said.

The ambassador outlined certain progress in market liberalization. They work to give products the status of a single product of EAEU made in the Eurasian market, he said. Welcoming positive economic indicators of Armenia, the Belarusian ambassador said the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement recently signed between Armenia and European Union may become an additional element to help boosting cooperation of the two powerful regional integration unions.

Armenia’s successes were mentioned also by Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Armenia Timur Urazayev. The diplomat said all countries have confirmed the good, positive dynamics for the three years of Eurasian Economic Union’s development, despite certain difficulties in the regional and global context. It is Armenia that has shown the best indicators for a second year already. This is dynamics and economic growth, export growth to the EAEU and third countries. The most important is the high-tech sector, the diplomat said. He believes that the sector may become a driving force for Armenia’s other sectors.

“Belarus has undertaken the role of that driving force in EAEU, however Armenia has been the leader in that industry yet in the Soviet time and today it shows good results claiming the role of the driving force for development of other economically important sectors too,” Ambassador Uruzayev said.

The Kazakh diplomat emphasized that EAEU is an economic union and politics plays no important part in it, despite criticism by some countries. “Politics should be used just as an instrument to enforce our projects, but it should not be the key aspect in establishment of common economy in the territory of our union. Politics cannot feed people, increase their wages. Politics should be just an instrument for enforcement of all the projects and ideas in EAEU. We are committed to the strategy of further integration of our economies into a single economy and will be applying minimum political instruments so that not to prevent normal economic phenomena,” the Kazakh ambassador said.