Armenia is ready to deepen integration within the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), but also develops partnership with the European Union, considering the rapprochement of the two integration associations to be inevitable, said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.

Speaking at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Pashinyan noted that the priority of the reform strategy of his government is the full use of the potential of foreign economic relations and participation in international integration structures, RIA Novosti reported.

“For countries such as Armenia, institutionalization of access to the centers of the world economy and activity is very important. This primarily relates to our cooperation with Russia and participation in the Eurasian Economic Union. We are committed to the further improvement of the strategic partnership with Russia and the most productive participation in the union. We will use all our efforts to improve cooperation mechanisms and maximize the integration between the members of our union. This applies equally to CSTO membership,” he said.

According to him, Armenia is interested in expanding cooperation with various regions of the world, including China, both bilaterally and within EEU pairing initiative and the Belt and Road Initiative, which Pashinyan described as a “priority.”

“I also consider promising a policy of deepening cooperation between the EEU and the EU. I think, if not in the near future, the implementation of such cooperation is quite realizable and even inevitable,” he added.