Armenia's accession to the Customs Union poses no serious risk to the CU member-countries, Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission's (EEC) Board, told The Expert Magazine
"The customs and phytosanitary infrastructures, and technical regulations are rather developed in the country. In the course of our combined efforts, the state government of Armenia displayed high level of preparedness for operative and effective work. Many regulatory standards in Armenia have been advanced even more than in the Customs Union. We may even integrate some of those most advanced standards in the supranational legislation," the official said.
According to Khristenko, Armenia's decision to access the Customs Union was a sovereign choice of the country and not just the political will of its leadership.
Jointly with the colleagues from Armenia, a huge work was carried out within a short period of time. He said that the roadmap on Armenia's accession to the CU and United Economic Space that was approved in late December 2013 contains nearly 300 provisions. In this light, Khristenko is sure that absence of a common border with the CU countries is not a problem.
"When Greece was joining the EU, it had no borders with the EU. Cyprus has no common border with the EU, as it is an island. Russia and its Kaliningrad region have no common border. I think Armenia is able to sign the agreement to access the CU and UES already in 2014," he said.