page_title: Eurasian Economic Union
section_title: Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh
hierarchical_section_title: Eurasian Economic Union / Foreign affairs / Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh
caption_attribution_description: English: MEIENDORF CASTLE, MOSCOW OBLAST. With President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Armenia Serzh Sarkisian Русский: МОСКОВСКАЯ ОБЛАСТЬ, ЗАМОК МАЙЕНДОРФ. С Президентом Азербайджана Ильхамом Алиевым и Президентом Армении Сержем Саргсяном. Подписание по итогам переговоров Декларации Азербайджанской Республики, Республики Армении, Российской Федерации.
context_page_description: The Eurasian Economic Union is an economic union of states located in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Western Asia. The Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union was signed on 29 May 2014 by the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, and came into force on 1 January 2015. Treaties aiming for Armenia's and Kyrgyzstan's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union were signed on 9 October and 23 December 2014, respectively. Armenia's accession treaty came into force on 2 January 2015. Kyrgyzstan's accession treaty came into effect on 6 August 2015. It participated in the EAEU from the day of its establishment as an acceding state.
  The Eurasian Economic Union has an integrated single market of 180 million people and a gross domestic product of over Int$5 trillion. The EAEU encourages the free movement of goods and services, and provides for common policies in the macroeconomic sphere, transport, industry and agriculture, energy, foreign trade and investment, customs, technical regulation, competition and antitrust regulation. Provisions for a single currency and greater integration are envisioned for the future.
context_section_description: In September 2013, Armenia announced its intentions of joining the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. At the time of joining the Union, the Republic of Armenia already had preferential treatment within the framework of the CIS as a party to the Free Trade Zone Agreement of October 18, 2011, and therefore enjoyed significant tariff benefits. According to an IMF representative in Armenia, Armenia’s membership to the Eurasian Economic Union resulted in about $250 million a year in customs revenue. Armenia also benefited in the form of secured privileges for 752 products until 2020, which implies no EAEU tariffs due to Union membership. Joining the Union allowed the country to get even more tangible economic effects due to the functioning of the Common Economic Space, the use of common technical regulation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, non-tariff regulation. Such results confirm that for the implementation of full-scale freedom of movement of goods, liberalization of tariff regulation alone is not enough. The region of Nagorno-Karabakh, however, is disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Tensions rose further in the Caucasus region on 30 July 2014 due to clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers.
  Experts estimate that with the accession of Armenia, the internationally unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic would not be integrated into the Eurasian Union. Armenia is a permanent political, military and economic ally of Russia, whereas Azerbaijan holds close ties with Armenia's long-standing enemy Turkey. The Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev expressed concern in 2013 that no reliable customs border between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh could be drawn. However, Nazarbayev expressed that he holds all the existing disagreements preventing Armenia's integration into Eurasian Economic Union are surmountable. The Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee in the Armenian Parliament, Artak Zakarian, announced on 14 May 2014 that Armenia will not build any customs borders, including with the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
caption: Ilham Aliyev, Dmitry Medvedev and Serzh Sarkisian hold peace talks in Moscow on 2 November 2008.
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