Prime minister urges silence on Artsakh’s Customs Union issue

By Asbarez | Tuesday, 20 May 2014

 

Armenia's Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian


YEREVAN (Arka)—Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian told members of parliament today that they “should not speak that much about a possible customs border between the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the Republic of Armenia in the context of Armenia’s impending accession to the Russia-led Customs Union.”

 

He said the excessive talk on this subject hampers Yerevan’s negotiations for accession to the trade bloc.

“We continue negotiations with our partners, because it [Armenia’s membership in the Customs Union] stems from our economic and defense interests. As for Karabakh, I should ask you not to talk that much about this subject. We want everything to end the way we want it. But the more we talk about it, the more obstacles appear for it,” Abrahamian said.

Earlier this month Artak Zakaryan, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on foreign relations, said in Yerevan that “there can be no customs border between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh under any circumstances.”

He spoke to reporters after a video conference with officials in Moscow, Minsk and Astana that discussed Armenia’s upcoming membership in the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Anton Azarov, a senior official from the union’s executive body, the Eurasian Economic Commission, made clear that the unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic will not be part of the trade bloc.

Meeting in Minsk on April 29, the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan instructed the Eurasian Economic Commission to draft an agreement on Armenia’s accession by June 1.

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