Armenia's membership in the EU and the EAEU is incompatible: Lavrov

Armenia's membership in the European Union, which Yerevan has announced its aspiration to achieve, is incompatible with simultaneous participation in the EAEU, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference.

He recalled the statement by Alexei Overchuk, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for the Development of the EAEU, about the incompatibility of the EAEU and the EU.

"Because these are two different free trade zones, two different systems for waiving or reducing duties and tariffs, they do not overlap," he said.

Currently, Armenia is a member of the EAEU, and the issue of leaving that organization is not on the agenda.

This was stated by Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan on January 13 at a press conference summarizing the results of 2024, responding to a request to comment on the statement of Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Government Overchuk.

"The EU accession process is a parallel process. Our task is not to discuss these agendas, but to increase the resilience of our economy. Armenia must increase the competitiveness of its products, regardless of whether Armenia is in the EAEU or the EU," the official added.

Papoyan noted that the Armenian authorities are not thinking about replacing the EAEU with something else.

"We want to be independent. This means depending not on one, but on many, and at the same time creating such conditions that many are to some extent dependent on you. We must become such a state that if something happens to our economy, it will affect the economies of other countries. In this case, the risks will decrease."

"Nothing should be changed, it is necessary to maintain and increase the volumes within the EAEU, as well as increase this indicator with others," he emphasized.

The Minister informed that the UAE has already become Armenia's number one trading partner.

"At the same time, even without taking into account gold exports, the UAE's share in the total volume of foreign trade has increased from 4 to 18 percent. Along with Russia, China and the EU are among the major partners, and Iran is also a target country," Papoyan noted.

He admitted that a problem has arisen in the EU because Armenia has been deprived of GSP privileges due to the growth in per capita GDP, which creates difficulties in exporting textiles and aluminum foil. "We are supporting companies in this sector so that they do not lose their markets in Europe," the official said.

He added that he last spoke with an Armenian representative at the Upper Lars checkpoint on Saturday, who said there were no problems with queues. "And there are no queues at the checkpoint at the moment," he assured.