Currently, Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and the matter of leaving that organization is not on the agenda. Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan stated this at Monday’s press conference to recap the 2024 economic results in Armenia, when asked to comment on the recent statement by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk.

Armenia should make a choice between participation in the EAEU and the European Union (EU), Overchuk had said.

"The process of joining the EU is a parallel process. Our [i.e. Armenia’s] task is not to discuss these agendas, but to increase the resilience of our economy. Armenia should increase the competitiveness of its products, regardless of whether Armenia is in the EAEU or the EU," the Armenian official added.

Papoyan noted that the Armenian authorities are not thinking about replacing the EAEU membership with something else.

"We [Armenia] want to be independent. This means to depend not on one, but on many, and at the same time create such conditions that many depend on you to some extent. We should become such a state that if something happens to our economy, it will affect the economies of other countries. In this case, the risks will decrease. It is not necessary to change anything, it is necessary to maintain and increase the amount [of trade] within the EAEU framework, as well as to increase this indicator with others," Papoyan emphasized.

The economy minister informed that the UAE has already become the number one trade partner of Armenia.

"At the same time, even without taking into account the export of gold, the share of the UAE in the total amount of [Armenia’s] foreign trade has increased from 4 to 18 percent. Along with Russia, China and the EU are among the major partners [of Armenia], and Iran is also a target country," Papoyan noted.

He admitted, however, that a problem has arisen in the EU due to the fact that with the increase in GDP per capita, Armenia has been deprived of GSP privileges, which creates difficulties in the export of textiles and aluminum foil.

"We provide support to the companies of this sector so that they do not lose their markets in Europe," said the Armenian official.

He added that he last spoke with the representative of Armenia at the Upper Lars checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border on Saturday, and they said that there were no problems with vehicle queues there .

"And at the moment there are no queues at the checkpoint," assured Gevorg Papoyan.