Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan arrived in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, on a working visit.

The Prime Minister of Armenia attended the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council’s regular meeting at Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library in St. Petersburg. The meeting was attended by President Alexander Lukashenko of the Republic of Belarus, President Sooronbai Zheenbekov of the Kyrgyz Republic, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, Supreme Eurasian Economic Council Honorary President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Eurasian Economic Commission Board Chairman Tigran Sargsyan. Moldova’s President Igor Dodon was in attendance as head of observer country.

The Eurasian Economic Union’s development agenda and the prospects for cooperation were discussed during narrow and expanded-format sessions. The Supreme Eurasian Economic Council endorsed the nomination of Mikhail Myasnikovich as Eurasian Economic Commission Board Chairman. Incumbent Board Chairman Tigran Sargsyan will be in office until February 1, 2020. The meeting approved the new composition of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission and decided that Belarus should take over the presidency of the Eurasian Economic Union in 2020. The decision will come into force on January 1, 2020.

Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Pashinyan stated:
“Dear Colleagues,

Greetings to you all! In fact, we are ending the year with a good mood. I would like to stress that we have reached a consensus on all agenda items. We can already move on to signing the documents, and I think it is a good sign and a very good atmosphere that we have actually agreed on all agenda items. As Armenia’s year-long presidency in the EAEU is nearing completion, I would like to thank all our partners for the work done during this time. I think that we enjoyed a pretty good, effective and fruitful presidency. I am confident that we will continue to cooperate in this spirit. Congratulating Belarus on assuming the presidency, I wish you all the best.”

President Alexander Lukashenko of the Republic of of Belarus thanked the Armenian Prime Minister for his kind remarks and best wishes. “Dear colleagues, I think you all share the opinion that we should extend a vote of thanks to the Armenian side for quite effective presidency.”

The meeting next proceeded as follows: after discussing the strategic directions for developing the Eurasian economic integration by 2025, the heads of EAEU-member states signed the agreement on EAEU-member state citizens’ pension guarantees. The Member States approved the EAEU directive on lifting the barriers to domestic market operations, and the directive on implementing service liberalization programs. Decisions were passed on amending the EAEC’s working regulations and approving the action plan for forming a common electricity market.

In conclusion, it was decided to hold the next meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in May, 2020 in Belarus.

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Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is St. Petersburg on a working visit, today attended a regular meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. After the meeting, the Prime Minister joined EAEC Board Chairman Tigran Sargsyan to make a statement for mass media representatives.

“Dear media representatives,
Dear Board Chairman,

The regular meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council is over. We discussed a number of important issues on the agenda of our integration association. First, the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council approved the candidacy of Mikhail Myasnikovich as Chairman of EAEC Board.

As you may know, Tigran Sargsyan’s term of office expires on February 1, 2020, and he will be substituted by Mr. Myasnikovich, who previously held a number of senior positions, including the posts of Prime Minister and Speaker of the Council of the Republic, which is Belarusian parliament’s upper chamber. In addition, we approved the new composition of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

I congratulate Mikhail Vladimirovich Myasnikovich and all Board members on their appointment. I am confident that they will help improve the efficiency of the Commission and the economic union, as a whole.

In addition, we discussed several fundamental issues related to the Strategic Directions for the Development of Eurasian Integration by 2025.

We signed the agreement on the provision of pensions to EAEU-member states’ citizens, which is significant progress on the way to providing conditions for effective functioning of the Union’s common labor market.

We took note of the progress in lifting the barriers to member states’ domestic market operations. We consider it important to carry on with the ongoing joint efforts aimed at removing all unnecessary barriers and creating mechanisms to prevent the emergence of new barriers. We adopted a decree on the implementation of liberalization plans for individual service sectors within the Eurasian Economic Union.

Today’s meeting stood out in that it was the last meeting chaired by Armenia. We had the opportunity to summarize the past year and talk about the results achieved under Armenia’s presidency.

Armenia’s presidency in the EAEU was productive in terms of expanding the Union’s foreign economic relations. As you know, the agreement on trade and economic cooperation with China and the agreement leading to the establishment of free trade zone with Iran have entered into force. We have signed free trade arrangements with Singapore and Serbia, as well as an agreement on exchange of customs information with China.

The tradition of holding Eurasian economic forums was established in Yerevan in October this year. From now on, such events will be held annually in the presiding country.

A number of decisions have been adopted to facilitate the process of integration and deepen cooperation between our countries. We approved the treaty on the formation of a common electric energy market and a concept note on the formation of the EAEU common financial market. The first digital project of the Eurasian network was launched and progress was made toward building a common jewelry market.

And finally, Armenia takes the initiative, suggesting that each member country should supervise one of our major integration projects. We expressed readiness to coordinate the implementation of the program for the formation of the Union’s jewelry brand.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the Union will be chaired by the Republic of Belarus in 2020. In this connection, I congratulate Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko and wish our Belarusian partners every success in this crucial mission.

I would also like to thank Tigran Sargsyan for his performance as Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission and wish him all the best.”

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As part of his working visit to St. Petersburg, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today attended the informal summit of the heads of CIS-member states.

Following a joint photo session, the CIS-member states’ leaders partook in a working dinner hosted by President of Russia Vladimir Putin in honor of the heads of CIS-member states. During the summit, the heads of CIS-member states discussed issues of cooperation within the Commonwealth.