Iran Will Not Wait Long

Naira Hayrumyan, Political Commentator
Comments – 28 July 2014, 13:54

The Iranian ambassador to Armenia Mohammad Reisi told news.am that
Iran offers Armenia to sign a free trade agreement before its possible
membership to the Customs Union. Currently Armenia has such an
agreement with Georgia, and trade with Iran is based on “general
terms”.

The ambassador also said that Armenia and Iran need to talk about
tariffs, rules of trade. He noted that the 12th meeting of the
Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental commission will be held by the end
of the year but the exact timing has not been set yet.

Currently Armenia has free trade agreements with Georgia, as well as
the CIS. The second agreement may be discarded soon because it has
been signed by Ukraine and Moldova. And though these countries would
like to continue free trade with the countries of CIS after signing
DCFTA with the EU, Russia has already dismissed such opportunities.

As to the Armenian-Georgian agreement, apparently it will remain valid
through Armenia’s sovereignty and until its membership to the Eurasian
Union.

Hence, Iran proposes a free trade area and Armenia refuses. Armenia is
consistently refusing profitable proposals of Iran one after the
other. In addition, all official Yerevan does is ask its partners to
wait for a little more. Now, apparently, Yerevan is waiting to see
what will happen with the regime in the Kremlin to not get caught by
the furious wounded bear.

However, Yerevan’s plans may not be fulfilled, and the reluctance of
the Armenian government to conduct sovereign talks with Iran, Georgia
and other countries deprives it of guarantees on behalf of its
neighbors in case the “wounded bear” vents its anger on Armenia.

Besides the Kremlin regime may last longer despite the loop tightening
around its neck, while Iran will not wait long. Ambassador Reisi said
the president of Iran is heading for Armenia to talk about relations.
He would like to arrive by the end of this year but the government of
Armenia must send him a message that they are ready for talks.
Rowhani’s visit was said likely for several times but the visit is put
off every time. Apparently, it is time to finalize the Iran-Armenia
relations, and this time President Rowhani will arrive.

By the way, Iran proposes to sign a FTA not only with Armenia but also
with Nakhidjevan. The shortest connection between Iran and Armenia is
across Nakhidjevan, and to the Black Sea via Georgia. Iran is
proposing attractive projects to open the region, and Nakhidjevan is
the key “hindrance”.

Armenia, blocked by its two neighbors Turkey and Azerbaijan, should
normalize its relations with its other two neighbors Georgia and Iran,
establishing maximum preferential conditions for trade with them.
However, Armenia has directed its efforts to normalization of
relations with Russia without any shared borders with this country. In
political science this is either loss of sovereignty or diplomatic
incompetence.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress