Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in the expanded-format sitting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council at the Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex in Yerevan.

Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Mikhail Myasnikovich and the Heads of Government of the EEU member states - Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin, Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Roman Golovchenko, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin, Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Akylbek Japarov participated in the sitting.

The Prime Minister of Armenia delivered remarks, where he particularly said,

“Dear Heads of Government,

Dear members of delegations,

I welcome all of you in Armenia. We are sincerely glad to have the opportunity to host the regular sitting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council.

Dear colleagues,

Unfortunately, today's meeting is held in a tense situation for our country. I can not fail to note that just like a year ago, when we were hosting the regular session of the Intergovernmental Council, today Armenia is facing serious challenges threatening its security.
Our region was pushed into a new phase of tension, which, unfortunately, led to another human losses. The responsibility of that falls on Azerbaijan, whose military provocations are aimed at violating the territorial integrity of our country and thwarting the agreements reached by the trilateral statements of November 9, 2020, and January 11, 2021.

Dear colleagues,

For almost two years now, the world, including the Eurasian integration, has been developing against the backdrop of new global socio-economic challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The serious epidemiological situation and the heavy burden on the healthcare system raised the need for a speedy resolution of problems, including in the pharmaceutical sector, has emerged.

In this context, we believe that in the long run, the consistent implementation of the action plan aimed at increasing the level of supply of medicines of strategic importance to the member states of the Union will allow us to establish their entire production cycle, increase the level of self-sufficiency of our countries.

Restrictions on movement and other measures taken to protect public health have generally had a negative impact on many sectors of the economy. This situation is reflected in the report on the “State of mutual trade between the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union in 2020". We believe that the results and assessments summarized in the report are useful and demanded even today, as we are trying to find incentives for the further progress of trade and economic relations in the current conditions.

In this regard, I would like to note that in 2021 Armenia has already registered stable growth rates of trade and cooperation with the EEU countries. The numbers speak for themselves: Armenia's foreign trade turnover with the EEU countries in January-September 2021, compared to the same period in 2020, has increased by 12.8%. The volume of exports from Armenia to the EEU countries in the first nine months of this year increased by 27.8%. I am glad to state that the growth is registered for all EEU partners. Exports to the Russian Federation increased by 27.4%, to Belarus - by 19.2%, to Kazakhstan - by 89.5%, to Kyrgyzstan - by 48.0%.

This testifies not only to the development of trade cooperation within the EEU, but also to the existence of new opportunities, which have been launched in the conditions of global structural changes in the world economy.

Thus, the expansion of e-commerce opportunities is a qualitatively new mechanism to support small and medium-sized businesses, which may and should contribute to the increase of trade turnover between the countries of the Union.

At the same time, the growth of transborder e-commerce poses new challenges for us and requires effective solutions to ensure the security of goods, the protection of consumer rights, as well as the integrity of tax and customs revenues.

In the context of digital transformation, it’s also necessary to consider the completion of the complex and long process of agreeing on the draft Agreement on the use of navigation seals for cargo transportation in the EEU. In this regard, I would like to mention the work of the sectoral departments of the EEU member states in the process of testing and coordination at the national level.

The application of the provisions of the agreement will enable the transition to digital control of cargo transportation, reduce the time and financial costs of the participants of the transport-logistics process, optimize the customs procedures, without reducing their efficiency.

I would also like to emphasize the importance of the Agreement on the procedure for the exchange of data included in credit histories within the EEU. The signing of the agreement will create conditions for the development of trans-border lending in the EEU common financial market, as well as will allow the citizens of the Union to receive loans in the territory of all the five countries.

Dear colleagues,

In conclusion, I would like to once again welcome all of you in Armenia. Congratulations to the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, who has joined us online. Taking into account that this is the last sitting of the Intergovernmental Council this year, I would also like to thank everyone for their active cooperation and intensive work in 2021."

A number of agenda issues were discussed at the sitting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council. In particular, issues related to the situation over mutual trade, the development of the agro-industrial complex, the program of measures for the supply of raw materials to the metallurgical enterprises of the EEU countries for the period of 2021-2024, the approximation of the positions of the Union states on the climate agenda were raised. The Agreement on the use of navigation seals to track shipments in the EEU, the draft EEU Biosafety Strategy, issues on the e-commerce development and other issues on the agenda were discussed. Documents were signed based on the results of the sitting.

It was decided to hold the next sitting of the EEU Intergovernmental Council in January 2022, in Almaty.