Tatiana Valovaya: Following the results of January 2017, the volume of mutual trade of the countries of the EEU rose by 38.1%

ArmInfo. As a result of January  2017, the volume of mutual trade of the countries of the Eurasian  Economic Union grew by 38.1%. This was announced at the onlain  conference by the member of the board (minister) for integration and  macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission Tatiana Valovaya.

According to her, in comparison with January of last year, Armenia  registered an increase in mutual trade by 81.3%. She noted that by  the end of 2016 Armenia had achieved the growth of mutual trade by  53%, and Kyrgyzstan by 4.4%. Meanwhile, Armenia's foreign trade with  third countries increased by 3.3%, Kyrgyzstan - by 11.9%. "This shows  that Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, which joined the union in 2015, began to  benefit from Eurasian integration," she said.

Valovaya noted that according to preliminary estimates, last year the  whole of the EEU was observed a decline in GDP in constant  assessments by 0.1%, but the reduction is not as significant as in  2015, while GDP fell by 2.3%. "The Eurasian Economic Commission for  2017 predicts GDP growth of the union by 0.9%, while for 2018-2019  the same positive dynamics is expected," she stressed.

The Minister noted that in 2016 GDP in two states of the EEU, the GDP  fell: in Belarus and Russia. "To a large extent, the volume of GDP  was reduced in Russia, since it is an exporter of oil and gas. We  should not forget that the Belarusian economy is connected with the  production of oil products, of course, this affected the reduction in  the volume of GDP", she said, adding that she did not hear about the  dissatisfaction of the Belarusian side that the GDP decline is  connected with the accession to the EEU join of Armenia or  Kyrgyzstan.

"There is an increase in mutual trade between Belarus and both  countries. Belarusian colleagues are finding new markets in these  states. More than 52% of its products are sold by Belarus in the  market of the EEU, this is the highest figure in the EEU. After  Belarus, are Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, they sell 30-40% of their  products in the territory of the EEU," she said.