We Need to Reassess Our Economic Policy Towards Armenia, Says Alexey Overchuk

Armenia has the right to independently determine its integration prospects with the EU, but Yerevan must understand that this will mean a radically different tariff regime in trade with the Russian Federation. This was stated by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk in an interview with TASS during the Eastern Economic Forum.

“If this continues, we will have to make a decision to reassess our economic policy toward this country. Armenia has the right to decide where it wants to be. But they also understand that in that case, their tariff regime will be different; we will not have the free movement of goods between our countries, and there will be no duty-free trade,” Overchuk noted.

He emphasized that this could cause a “considerably painful” blow to Armenian producers, especially in the agricultural sector. “The peculiarities of the market are such that their products are in demand in Russia. All countries surrounding them do not have problems with grapes, apricots, or other fruits and vegetables; they have all of that. Russia is a premium market for Armenia. I’m not even talking about the fact that the Armenian market will be flooded with goods from the EU, which will leave little opportunity for the development of Armenian businesses. Apparently, they also need to evaluate these factors, and they will evaluate them,” Alexey Overchuk added.