Armenia’s Signed International Agreement Conflicts with EEU Treaty

In 2011, Armenia entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) and reformed its legislation on state procurements, tailoring it toward European standards, while now, it is has to tailor its legislation toward the Eurasian Economic Union’s standards. The union's standard is the Russian legislation, stated Transparency International expert Artak Manukyan today during a press conference.

“Armenia is the only CIS country that has really approached European Union standards, and now, we are changing our vector and going toward Russia and Belarus, whose legislation implementation level is much lower. This is a step backwards. As a signatory to the CIS procurements contract, we have assumed a responsibility, in which we have to approach domestic and foreign companies the same way, while Russia’s state procurements legislation clearly states an advantage for domestic manufacturers. Basically, we will also have a juridical contradiction. It is still unclear how our government is trying to solve this puzzle,” said the expert.

According to him, when Armenia gives privileges to domestic companies, the CIS will discuss the issue of violating the points of its contractual agreement.

With the CIS agreement Armenia is also obliged to be open for the organization’s member states, however, Armenia can no longer take advantage of the same opportunities, stated Manukyan.