Armenian Parliament ratifies Agreement on Armenia's Accession to Eurasian Economic Union

On December 4, the National
Assembly of Armenia ratified the Agreement on Armenia's Accession to the
Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) with 103 "for", 7 "against"
and 1 abstention. Now the document is to be ratified by the Parliaments of
Russia, Belarus and Kazakshtan. 

On October 10, 2014, Armenia signed in Minsk the
agreement on accession to the EAEU. The country will become a full member of the
EAEU on 1 Jan 2015. According to the agreement, the republic will receive 1.13%
of total tax revenues. By preliminary estimations, in 2015 Armenia will receive
nearly $250 mln. Consequently, due to the redistribution, the income of Belarus
will drop from 4.7% to 4.65%, Kazakhstan - from 7.3% to 7.25%. Russia has the
biggest share but it will also drop - from 88% to 86.97%.

Earlier Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsh
Kocharyan said that the application of the EAEU customs duties for a number of commodities
(medicine, cars, essentials) in Armenia would be put off for a year. So, the
local customs duties will still be in force, he said.

The aggregate volume of economy of the EAEU member
states is more than $2 trillion and the total industrial output of the three
countries amounts to $1.5 trillion. The prospect of the integration effect in
terms of the aggregate GDP growth may total about $900 billion by 2030. The
agreement takes into account the principles of sovereign equality of the
parties and their territorial integrity, as well as the national interests of
the EAEU member states. The agreement implies freedom of movement of
commodities, services, capital and workforce, implementation of coordinated or
single policy in economic sectors stipulated by the given agreement and
international agreements within the EAEU.