Yerevan /Mediamax/. First Vice Prime Minister of Russia Igor Shuvalov stated that "Armenia strives to join the Customs Union as soon as possible and it expressed the readiness to do it within a few months”.

Igor Shuvalov said this following the session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Minsk, RBC reports.

“The Armenian President turned to the Presidents of the Customs Union countries to give the country a chance to ratify all the agreements as soon as possible”, noted the Russian Vice PM.

According to him, they made a decision on creating a task force which should present a “roadmap” and concrete results at the next session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Moscow in December.

Igor Shuvalov said that the talks with Yerevan significantly differ from talks with Kyrgyzstan on joining the Customs Union. He noted that the task force is already established and has been working for a long time, but the process of the talks is tough as the Kyrgyz side insists on some exemptions on rather painful issues.

“While Armenia says: we are ready to almost fully ratify all the agreements which are already analyzed and the work has been realized from the very first day that the Customs Union initiated the agreements; all our ministries and structures are aware of it. We just need a few months to work - in the entire volume, without any exemptions - and we are ready to join the whole legal base and adhere to all the norms”, said Igor Shuvalov. He also said that apart from this, Armenia expressed the will to bring the whole domestic legislation in line with the Customs Union.

Igor Shuvalov noted that in all the positions, Armenia ranks higher on Doing Business rating than the states making part of the Customs Union.