No serious research has been held in Armenia on expediency of the country's joining the Customs Union, Doctor of Economics, director of the analytical center "Alternativa", Tatul Manaseryan, said at today's press-conference.
Neither the state structures nor any organization studied the situation, he said and added that at present "Alternativa" has started studying the issue. He means not only making alterations to the Customs legislation, not only the damage in the budget revenues, as at the Armenian border no customs tax will be taken from the goods produced in the countries of the CU especially in Russia. As for the social component - healthcare, education and science, their financing will be decreased in case of Armenia's joining the CU. As for Armenia, it can offer less list of goods to be exported to the countries of the CU. The expert said that Armenia is joining the CU not voluntary.
The extension of the markets is a positive factor of Armenia's joining the CU, the expert said and added this is very much important to Armenia which has a limited market. Sooner or later Armenia has to participate in the regional integration, including at the CIS level, he said.
After meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on September 3, Armenia’s President Sargsyan announced his country’s intention to join the Russia-led Customs Union. Sargsyan stated that such a decision serves Armenia's interests, primarily from a security point of view. After Sargsyan's statement, European officials declared that the EU-Armenia Association Agreement, the initialing of which had been planned for November, was now "off the table." Although the EU-Armenia negotiations on the Association Agreement and a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) have been ongoing for over three years and were finalized just six weeks before Sargsyan's visit to Moscow, the different regulations and tariffs applied by the EU and the Customs Union make it impossible to conclude agreements with both free trade zones at the same time.