Armenia to Benefit from the Expected Agreement on Sailing

• 06.17.2015, 10:50
• Lilia Amirkhanyan
•  EEU,  World,  Armenia

Among the cooperation tools offered by the Eurasian Economic Union to its member states there is a qualitatively new one – agreement on sailing, which will be signed by the member states before the end of this year. It is not unexpected that this news for many may seem as "unnecessary," as we do not have access to sea. Just the contrary, it may open new opportunities for us. 

First of all, it seems that the EEU countries during the formation and development of economic integration processes have put their emphasis on mutual trade. At the same time three of the member states have access to sea, therefore this kind of agreement was more than expected. Moreover, the lion’s share of the trade turnover belongs to these three countries. So what does this mean? Three large EEU trading partners sign a sea agreement receiving free access to each other’s water territories. This means free movement of goods by waterway and mutual simplification of trade procedures. This will have a positive impact on the trade relations of the EEU.

One can say it for sure that Armenia, which does not have access to sea, will also benefit from this agreement. Here a question rises. How? This is an opportunity for an Armenian producer to participate in sea trade, if not directly from the territory of Armenia, then at least from any other EEU country.

If, for example, previously the goods exported to the Russian market found a "last refuge" there and their coming out from the territory of the Russian Federation was left to Russia (which for obvious reasons was not working in favor of the Armenian producers), then after joining the treaty, it is assumed Armenia will have the right of access to the sea or the territorial waters of the EEU countries and to freely transfer its products to another EEU country. To put it simpler, any economic entity can deliver its products to Russia in coastal means and with free access to sea, transfer its products to, for example, Kazakhstan.

If the agreement works in this way, the Armenian side will be keen to either acquire or build its own cargo ships and conduct marketing activities not only with those EEU countries with which it carries out land trade, but also in other EEU countries, where it will have a targeted market for its products. And this, in its turn, means development of at least two areas and an opportunity for consuming large volumes of goods throughout the EEU territory.