Expert: if Armenia leaves EAEU, Azerbaijan will enter the union

If Armenia quits the Eurasian Economic Union, Azerbaijan will join the organization, an Armenian economist, Tatul Manaseryan, has announced at a parliamentary hearing staged by the Yelk faction.

“Last week, the Russian foreign minister unambiguously stated in Baku that Moscow would be glad to see Azerbaijan in the EAEU. Don’t even doubt, as soon as Armenia leaves it, Azerbaijan will join it. But just think of it: do we need this? I think the time has come to take the reality rationally and stop being jingoist,” Manaseryan said.

According to the expert, accusations made by the opposition that the entrance to the EAEU was the reason of the economic recession.

“Every time we speak of a slump in foreign investments after joining the EAEU. But we forget that it necessary to boost domestic investments first of all. Of course, foreign investments are very important for the Armenian economy, but a corresponding investment should be established and they need to make domestic investors interested,” the expert noted.

As for market for Armenian goods, he said there were periods when more than a half of the exports from Armenia was to the European Union. “People here almost went euphoric because of the growing exports to Europe. I warned then that it was risky to be too dependent on a single market. We needed diversification badly. Thanks to the EAEU, we’ve got it now,” the economist stressed.

It should be noted that about 92% of the Armenian exports to the Russian Federation are manufactures – textiles, foodstuffs, alcohol and so on. The exports to Russia grew by 64.2% (from $226 to $371 mn). Contrary to Russia, the trade turnover between Armenia and the EU is dominated by raw products, mostly copper-molybdenum ore.