Armenia To Sign Agreement On Joining Customs Union In May-June

Armenian Economy Minister Vaghram Avanesian says his country will sign an agreement on joining the Russia-led Customs Union in May or June.

Avanesian told journalists in Yerevan on April 18 that in Minsk on April 29 Yerevan will present a road-map for joining the union to the presidents of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan -- the current members of the Customs Union -- and will sign the agreement in May or June.

Media reports cited Avanesian on April 17 as saying that Armenia will sign the agreement on joining the union on April 29. But he said the next day that he had been misinterpreted.

Russian officials have tried to get other former Soviet republics into the union, saying that by 2015 it will become the Eurasian Economic Union and be modeled after the EU.


Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS and Interfax