Message by President Serzh Sargsyan Concerning the Opening Ceremony of the RPA Second Economic Congress Headed “Armenia and the Customs Union: Opportunities and Challenges”

Honorable participants of the Congress,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I cordially welcome all the participants of the Second Economic Congress of the Republican Party of Armenia headed “Armenia and the Customs Union: Opportunities and Challenges.”

It is evident that economic integration substantially enlarges the development opportunities of countries. The very understanding of this fact underlies our decision to join the Customs Union. At the same time, it is clear that there appear to be challenges on the road of the integration process. Overcoming these challenges greatly depends on the effectiveness of a joint effort and the high level of mutual understanding.

This Congress takes place at the important phase of Armenia’s membership process in the Customs Union. Today we already have a clearly shaped working agenda and a membership roadmap, and the steps stemming from the latter are in the course of implementation. The active cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Commission and the relevant structures of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus allows us to make significant progress on that road. More than 70 percent of the intermembership obligations assumed by Armenia as a result of that constructive cooperation are already implemented while the remained ones are in the course of implementation. Next step is to sign an international legal document which will mark our country’s direct participation in Eurasian integration processes.

I am sure that this Congress will afford a good chance to comprehensively observe all the existing opportunities and challenges, to sum up the viewpoints and arguments, really stimulating smooth implementation of Armenia’s membership process in the Customs Union.

I wish the Congress effective works.