Yerevan/Mediamax/. Calculations of Center for Integration Studies of Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) show that Armenia's joining the Customs Union will allow Armenia to get a short-term economic effect of around 4% of GDP.

Director of the Center Evgeny Vinokurov said today that first of all, Armenia will get an access to capacious and protected market to sell its production and the export growth will allow move forward in solving the problem with trade balance.

Evgeny Vinokurov said that Armenia's joining the Customs Union will entail decrease in gas price by about 30% (from current USD270 to USD180) at the expense of elimination of export duties. Among other tariff measures important for the Armenian economy, there is possibility of cancellation of export duty for unprocessed diamonds, he noted.

The Director of the Center noted that as Armenia is a member of World Trade Organization, technical talks with WTO will be required, and Customs Union will act as a negotiating side on Armenia’s behalf.