Armenia joins Eurasian Economic Union

 Leaders of the Eurasian Economic Union on Friday signed an agreement on Armenia's accession to the Treaty of Eurasian Economic Union at a summit held in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
Presidents of Armenia, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan attending the meeting also agreed to terminate the Eurasian Economic Community.
On May 29, leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus signed the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, a founding document for Eurasian Economic Union, in Astana, the capita of Kazakhstan, which symbolizes a new stage of the Eurasian integration process.
The Treaty, which aims to create a necessary legal framework for the establishment of the EEU, will take effect from Jan.1, 2015.
The EEU is designed with the mission to increase economic cooperation within the member states as they agree to guarantee the free flow of goods, services, capital and labor and to implement a coordinated policy in the energy, industrial, agricultural and transport sectors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law on the ratification of the treaty on the EEU a week ago, while both chambers of the parliament of Kazakhstan have passed a draft law on ratification of the founding treaty. The draft law still needs the signature of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev before it becomes a law.