Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The road maps for Kyrgyzstan and Armenia's accession to the Russia-backed Customs Union will be ready in two months, RIA Novosti reported on November 12.

The Russian news agency cited adviser to Russian President on regional economic integration issues Sergey Glazyev.

"The road map for the integration process of Kyrgyzstan into the Customs Union will be developed by the end of this year. We expect Kyrgyzstan to be in the Customs Union by the time they reach the next stage of integration with the Eurasian economic union," Glazyev said.

He went on to note that the road map for Armenia's integration into the organization will be developed by the end of the month.

"The issue of forming an appropriate working group and preparing the road map for [Armenia's] integration will be resolved by the end of this month" he said.

The Customs Union was established in 2010. The purpose of the organization is to form a single customs territory within which no customs duties or economic restrictions are applied. The Single Economic Space of the Customs Union started operating on January 1, 2012.

During an October 24 session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan have supported the intentions of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan to join the Customs Union.

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Jantoro Satybaldiyev believes that Kyrgyzstan has expressed its political will by stating its aspiration to join the Customs Union, but there are several challenges in this regard and Kyrgyzstan needs political support from the member countries to resolve them.

Some experts believe that the accession of Kyrgyzstan to the Russian-backed Customs Union would lead to many negative consequences, including significant price increases in the country, which would make Kyrgyzstan dependent on other members of the organization.

Other analysts, however, believe that after joining the union, Kyrgyzstan will be able to receive raw materials from the organization's member states at more profitable prices.

Experts believe that Armenia's accession to the Customs Union would not bring significant economic benefits as the country has no common borders with the countries of the Union.

According to these experts, the only possible change after Armenia's accession to the Union may be the simplification of migration processes.