Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in the extended-format session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan.
Before the start of the session, the Heads of Government of the EAEU member states participated in the ceremony of issuing stamps dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
Prime Minister Pashinyan delivered remarks at the extended-format session, where he particularly said,
"Dear members of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council,
Dear participants of the session,
First of all, I want to thank our Kyrgyz colleagues and personally Akylbek Japarov for the traditional warm hospitality and for organizing today's event at a high level.
I sincerely greet the Heads of Government of the member and observer states of the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as the participants and guests of today's meeting.
Undoubtedly, the meeting of the Intergovernmental Council is a good opportunity to continue the exchange of ideas on a number of key issues and to develop mutually acceptable solutions to minimize the challenges posed by the global economy that have gained unprecedented scale and depth in recent months.
Despite the global economic transformations and remarkable shocks in financial systems, a certain positive tendency is observed in trade and economic relations due to the advantages of the Eurasian integration.
In this context, I should mention that in the first half of 2022, Armenia's economy has ensured a significant increase in the volume of mutual trade with EAEU countries. During that period, mutual trade with EAEU countries increased by 52.5% compared to the same period of 2021 and amounted to 1.7 billion USD, while Armenia's exports with EAEU countries increased by 48.9% and imports by 54.2%.
I should mention that the growth rate of exports in mutual trade is higher than the growth rate of exports of Armenian products to third countries. I am confident that further cooperation will be no less effective, including through the implementation of new initiatives.
There is one more issue to which I would like to draw the attention of my colleagues. Due to the changes in the Union's foreign trade structure in recent months, there have been significant deviations in the distribution of customs duties. Based on this, we consider it necessary to return to the discussion of the issue of approval of the unified methodology for the distribution of shares in the near future.
Dear colleagues,
As the continuation of the discussion of the key issues on the agenda, which started yesterday at the narrow-format meeting, I would like to dwell on some aspects that are relevant for our Union.
I should mention that the Republic of Armenia attaches great importance to the formation of a common gas market within the Union and is ready for a constructive dialogue to reach a consensus on unresolved issues.
For achieving a complete unified market of goods and services, we consider integration in the fields of transport and infrastructure to be important. With the right approach, the transport-logistics sector can be one of the main drivers of EAEU development and become a competitive advantage for the union, creating favorable organizational and economic conditions for transit traffic.
For the construction of the EAEU transport-logistics complex, it is necessary to synchronize the economic policy at the national and supranational levels and ensure the commonality of the approaches to the design and operation of the integration infrastructure projects.
In this context, I would like to highlight the active cooperation with the Eurasian Development Bank and the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development, both in the bilateral format and in the promotion of integration projects with a cooperative effect. The creation of new cooperative chains and the use of tools of financial institutions will serve as an effective incentive for the development of industrial co-operative.
No less important factor in solving the raised issues is the use of the advantages of digitalization, which in turn creates a solid basis for the effective integration and partnership of the member states in the field of high technologies. International experience has clearly shown the significance of the economic impact of its introduction.
The advancement of digital technologies in the economy and trade will promote the minimization and even complete elimination of existing barriers, which in turn will increase the efficiency of economic ties and reduce costs in trade and cooperative chains.
I consider the development of e-commerce to be another important field. For EAEU countries, state regulation and control in the field of e-commerce are becoming more and more relevant, dictating the need to build a reliable control system with the provision of tax mechanisms in line with the best international practice of tax administration.
Considering the sensitivity of the issue, it is necessary to jointly move quickly towards improving the legal and regulatory environment for electronic commerce.
It is obvious that the measures aimed at increasing economic growth are related to the solution of a number of problems in the fields of education, health care, and social protection, and in this regard, the need to strengthen the economic component between EAEU cmember states with social and humanitarian projects acquire extra importance.
From this point of view, we welcome the holding of the first youth forum of CIS and EAEU. We hope that work with young people will firmly enter the agenda of our organization, and the forum will become a modern format for involving young professionals in decision-making processes at the current stage of the development of integration processes. I am sure that new leaders will emerge from today's participants of the forum, who will shape the state policy of our countries.
Dear heads of delegations,
In conclusion, I would like to thank all of you for the joint work. The Armenian side once again confirms its readiness to cooperate for pushing forward our common agenda in order to ensure the well-being of the citizens of EAEU member states.
Thanks for attention".
During the session, issues related to the formation of the common gas market within the Union, the financing of industrial co-operatives, the development of transport integration projects, the regulation of the alcohol market and certain aspects of the tax administration of e-commerce were discussed.
During the session, a decision was made to hold the next session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in autumn in Yerevan.
