ArmInfo. First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Russia Jambulat Khatuov held a meeting with Minister of Agriculture Ignaty Arakelyan. According to the website of the Russian Agriculture Ministry, Jambulat Khatuov congratulated the Armenian minister on appointment wishing him fruitful activity in the development of the country's agricultural and industrial sectors.
The sides discussed the prospects of further cooperation in the field, including development of greenhouses and intensive gardening in Armenia with a possibility of export of fruit and vegetables to Russia. The meeting was held on sidelines of the 18th Russian Agro-Industrial Exhibition "Golden Autumn 2016."
Earlier, referring to the Ministry of Agriculture of Armenia, ArmInfo reported that Minister of Agriculture Ignaty Arakelyan will pay a two-day visit to Moscow on October 5 to negotiate for export of grape-based alcoholic beverages to Russia.
According to the Agricultural Ministry press-office, Ignaty Arakelyan is expected to meet with representatives of importer and commercial companies of Russia.
The annual dynamics of the foreign trade turnover between Armenia and Russia grew 11.6% from last year's negative 12.5% amounting to $803.6mln. Russia retains its leadership position also by export and import - $223.3mln and $580.3mln, respectively. The annual dynamics of export has improved drastically from 30% decline to 62.1% growth. The decline of annual dynamics of imports slackened from 7.7% to 0.4%.
According to data of the Customs Service of Armenia, export of wine from Armenia to Russia for the first half of 2016 grew 20.5% versus the same period of 2015 to 604.2 thousand liters. The customs cost of the exported wine totaled $1.8mln for Jan-Jun 2016 versus $1.2mln for the same period of 2015. The total export of Armenian wine grew 20.4% year over year to 778.9 thousand liters. Export of 80% ethyl spirits grew 2.2-fold to 10 million liters. The hard situation in the Russian market and the volatility of the Russian ruble affected the exports of wines from Armenia - a 31.5% decline to 1,451.6 thousand liters.