Armenia’s membership in EEU is a chance for South Caucasus integration

YEREVAN, December 4. /ARKA/. Armenia's membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) gives its neighbors in the South Caucasus the opportunity to establish reciprocal integration and also under the auspices of the EEU, Alexei Martynov, the director of the Moscow-based Institute of New States said today.

Speaking at a round table on the Eurasian path of the Caucasus: integration for development, he said this chance that did not exist in the past, has been created by the Eurasian Economic Union.

Martynov argued that developments in the Middle East serve as a catalyst of the situation around the Caucasus. 

"Six months ago everyone thought that there was still time to think. Now it is obvious that there is no time. Decisions must be made as soon as possible and I am convinced that they will be made in the near future prompted by common interest,» he said.

According to Martynov, the EEU is an economic union, built on the principle of universal benefit and equality, regardless of the size of the economy and the size of its member states. 

"The principle of equality embedded in the framework of the integration process is its cornerstone," he said.

In turn, the director of the Center for Political Information Alexei Mukhin said the Eurasian integration is developing in a very challenging environment, but the basic fact reinforcing this process is centuries-old contacts between its member states.

"We have already passed a certain stage of joint development and we know what we can expect from each other. This makes the Eurasian project very realistic. There is nothing stronger than a century-long joint development, but the EEU will never become another Soviet Union. This is a myth,' he said.

The EEU now consists of former Soviet republics of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.-0-