YEREVAN. - Whether  Armenia’s economy will grow within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union depends on how smart we are.  

Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan, who is also the First Deputy Chairman of the RPA, said the aforementioned on Thursday, speaking at the meeting with voters in Yerevan’s Arabkir administrative district. 

In his words, many people say that Armenia has suffered from joining the EAEU. “Many people say that by joining the EAEU we pay little attention to Europe. What is my position on EAEU? It is a club of five countries with over 180 million population. The members of that club have agreed on the rules of the game, for instance, when crossing the borders. Whether we will benefit from this or not, I think, depends on us. Why are we interested in that market? We shouldn’t have illusions,” Karapetyan stressed.

He also added that currently the economic potential of Armenia is mainly aimed at the markets of the countries near which we have lived for many years.  

“Does EAEU limit our work in other markets? Do we have goods which we can but don’t export to Europe, being an EAEU member state? I don’t think so. Does this restrict our regional cooperation? No. I proposed my Georgian counterpart to create a so-called supranational level apart from the bilateral relations, where we can cooperate. We proposed them to use Armenia as a platform,” Karapetyan said.

If there is a Georgian capital, which wishes to enter the EAEU, let it open an enterprise in Armenia and make use of the opportunities of trade with the members of this group, he said.