YEREVAN. – Armenia is ready to initial Association Agreement with the EU, Secretary of the National Security Council Arthur Baghdasaryan said.

He sad joining the Customs Union will not hinder political association with the European Union.

“We are ready to initial the agreement during the Vilnius Summit this November,” Baghdasaryan told reporters on Friday.

He said Armenia appreciates what Europe can give, namely judiciary reforms, human rights protection and building of the civil society.

“No one is going to forget and stop cooperation in this field. European values are very important for us,” he said.

As to the economic aspect, he said the reality shows that DCFTA will not give Armenia as much as the customs union can give.

“Work on DCFTA has been finalized for 99%, and we were able to objectively compare the advantages of the two contracts. We have studied in detail the export potential of Armenia. We examined the tariff rates that customs union applies to third countries. No one is saying that European market will be closed for our quality  export . As regards steel products, they have been previously imported to Europe. And the rest of our exports still focuses on the countries of the customs union,” he said.

The Secretary of the Security Council noted that we should not forget about single space for the free movement of people, and Russia is now home to 2.5 million Armenians.  

Photos by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am