Wednesday, December 13 2017 17:33

ArmInfo. The trade turnover between Armenia and Kazakhstan has been growing since 2013, but the potential is still not fully realized. This was stated in an interview with abctv.kz by the head of the Kazakh-Armenian intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation from the Armenian side, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Robert Harutyunyan.

As the Deputy Minister pointed out, Armenia and Kazakhstan cooperate in both bilateral and multilateral formats.

"Armenia is interested in the presence of Kazakhstan's capital on our market, as well as Armenian goods on the Kazakhstan market." Cooperation between Armenia and Kazakhstan in such spheres as tourism, sports, culture and science will undoubtedly be interesting and mutually beneficial for both countries, a degree of awareness of the existing opportunities, will facilitate the implementation of new, including business projects," he said.

Statistical data for the first seven months of this year, as Robert Harutyunyan noted, indicate the growth of trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Armenia (38% growth in trade turnover). At the same time, if we trace the statistics for the last few years, then starting from 2013, there is a stable growth of trade between the two countries. This, according to the representative of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, testifies to the steadily developing trade and economic relations.

The reason for such a spasmodic growth in the volume of trade, according to the deputy minister, was primarily the increase in Kazakh exports to Armenia. Over the past two years, the range of products exported from Armenia to Kazakhstan has expanded, including a number of new items such as cigarettes and their substitutes, leather products, light industry products and so on.

Armenia is very interested in promoting Armenian goods in the market of Kazakhstan. It can be both traditional and well-known goods to Kazakh friends, such as Armenian cognac or gold products and jewelry, as well as new products of agriculture, information technology and so on. The government of Armenia has long pursued a policy of economic diversification, trying to promote the development of promising industries. Great attention is paid to innovations, development of the service sector, the financial sector.

To realize the economic potential of the two countries, as noted by Robert Harutyunyan, it is necessary to work on the development of specific projects, both with Armenian business circles, entrepreneurs, and with Kazakhstani colleagues.

Armenia, as stated by the representative of the RA Foreign Ministry, is also ready to facilitate the participation of Armenian companies in various exhibitions and fairs held in Kazakhstan. In addition, the participation of Kazakhstan companies in annual specialized exhibitions held in the Republic will be welcomed in Armenia.

"I think it is necessary that the parties develop concrete proposals for cooperation on the regions and hold the Armenian-Kazakh interregional forum similarly to the Armenian-Russian forum." Within the framework of the forum it will be possible to work out concrete steps for further interaction at the regional level, which will eventually lead to development and strengthening of bilateral economic cooperation as a whole, "he stressed.

Nevertheless, as noted by Robert Harutyunyan, to date, the absence of common borders and, accordingly, the difficult logistics is the most significant problem in the development of export-import operations between Armenia and Kazakhstan. "Armenia is also considering the possibility of transporting Armenian goods to Kazakhstan via the Iranian railway, but for this we need to ensure the filling of cars both in one direction and in the other direction, and, accordingly, trade missions become important."