Wednesday, 25 October 2017
RA Prime Minister attends Eurasian Intergovernmental Council Meeting
Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan attended today Eurasian Intergovernmental Council’s regular meeting in Yerevan.
Prior to the proceedings, the Heads of Government of EAEU-member States attended a joint photo session. The Prime Ministers first met in a narrow panel, after which the Council held an expanded meeting. Welcoming the participants of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan congratulated Sapar Isakov on being appointed as Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan and attending the Yerevan meeting.
In his speech, the head of the Armenian government stated in part, “In the narrow format we have already exchanged thoughts about key issues on today’s agenda. I would like to touch upon a number of issues, which to our mind are important to the Union. It seems to be impossible to speak today about economic modernization and competitiveness without having a digital agenda. It is obvious that this large-scale problem should be addressed with appropriate consideration given to our economies’ ability to adapt to these changes without causing extra costs for business.
At the same time, I would like to restate the position of the President of Armenia voiced at the session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Sochi. Digital solutions can be developed with the mechanism of mutual recognition of electronic invoices. The solution to this issue is important both for a number of initiatives and in terms of tracking the prices of specific goods.
The “roadmap” for implementation of the main directions and phases of EAEU-member States’ coordinated transport policy goes in tune with the development of relevant provisions stipulated in the EAEU Agreement on Transport and Infrastructure.
Given the lack of common borders with EAEU-member countries, logistical and transport and communication-related issues are more than actual for us. We expect that the implementation of the roadmap will help diversify transport communications between our countries.
As regards the Union’s common energy market, we are keen to see a system of information exchange that will address the growth of mutual trade in electricity and will facilitate the planning of synchronized working regimes for our countries’ energy systems.
I wish to single out another important topic. Next year the Eurasian Week is due to be held in Armenia. The implementation of similar projects is in line with the ongoing integration processes and promotes direct dialogue between businesses and States. We will be happy to host the representatives of our countries in Yerevan. We are convinced that the event will be both useful and effective for all participants.”
On behalf of the participants, Prime Minister Sapar Isakov of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the country that holds the chairmanship of EAEU, thanked Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan for the warm welcome and hospitality. He noted that it will soon be 3 years since the formation of the Union, which is a short but sufficient time to look back and correct the past mistakes.
Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Bakitzhan Sagintayev, RF Premier Dmitry Medvedev and Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Tigran Sargsyan presented their observations on the EAEU agenda, the problems and prospects.
The meeting next discussed possibilities for developing cooperation in the fields of internal markets, trade, agro-industry, energy and infrastructure. The meeting resulted in the signing of the following documents:
Decision “On the procedure for developing initiatives within the framework of EAEU Digital Agenda”
Ordinance “On the action plan (roadmap) for elimination of restrictions on the domestic market of the Eurasian Economic Union for 2018-2019”
Directive “On analysis of the situation in the sugar markets of EAEU-member States”
Ordinance “On progress in the work on creation of an air accidents investigation authority”
Directive “On the draft agreement on naval construction”
Directive “On certain issues of formation of an information exchange system within the common electricity-energy market of the Eurasian Economic Union”
Decision “On approval of the 2018-2020 Action Plan (roadmap) for EAEU-member States to implement a phase-in coordinated transport policy in specified directions”
Ordinance “On the draft agreement on the labeling of goods with identification marks in the Eurasian Economic Union”
Ordinance “On holding the Eurasian Week exhibition forum in 2018-2020”
Agreement “On circulation of seeds of cultivated plants in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union”
Directive “On a set of follow-up measures to control the movement of goods”
In connection with personnel changes in Kyrgyzstan, a new representative of the country was approved at the meeting of the Council.
EEC Board Chairman Tigran Sargsyan advised that it had been decided to hold the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council’s next meeting in January-February 2018 in the Russian city of Sochi.
