Armenia may join Customs Union earlier than Kyrgyzstan

Armenia may join the Customs Union earlier than Kyrgyzstan: the work on accession is being done very rapidly, with the roadmap for the country’s entry into the CU to be signed on Tuesday, RIA Novosti quoted the Russian president’s aide Yuri Ushakov as saying.

“I would like to say that the work of experts in the context of examining the Armenian application is proceeding intensively, at a high speed, and even more rapidly than the work that has been done with Kyrgyzstan,” Ushakov told reporters during a briefing on Monday.

RIA Novosti says that a summit of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council will be held in Moscow on Tuesday, during which the preparatory work for signing the agreement on the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union in May 2014 will be discussed. The union will be set up on the basis of the Customs Union to function from 2015. The applications of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan for entry into the CU will also be discussed. Ushakov confirmed that the roadmap for Armenia’s entry into the CU will be signed during the Moscow summit.

The issue of the Kyrgyz roadmap will also be discussed. But the roadmap is not at the same stage of completeness as the Armenian one,” the presidential aide said.

Kyrgyzstan announced its decision to join the Customs Union in 2011, whereas Armenia made such a decision in September 2013.