Armenian Ministry of Economy: Trade turnover between Armenia and Iran will not demonstrate significant dynamics in 2017

ArmInfo. Armenian  government's number one task within launch of FEZ in Meghri is to  ensure possibility of making bank transfers between Armenia and Iran,  Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments Hovhannes  Azizyan stated at the press conference today. 

"Development of business is simply impossible without establishing  cooperation among the banks", he stressed. In this light Azizyan  expressed hope that the issue will be solved within the upcoming two  months considering the agreement between the heads of the states on  cooperation of Central Banks. According to the Deputy Minister  solution of the issue of certification of Armenian products on the  Iranian market was an achievement for conducting efficient export  policy. However, despite these positive changes, the Deputy Minister  expressed opinion that the amount of trade turnover in the current  year will not demonstrate significant dynamics and will remain on the  level of 2016-within $280 mln. However, Azizyan does not rule out  that export of non-dominant products such as meat, mineral water,  chocolate, bakery food to Iran will grow by 30% (the major share of  export accounts for electricity).

At the same time the Deputy Minister expressed assurance that all the  Armenian goods will find their place on the Iranian market. "Each  year number of tourists from Iran grows, they are familiar with our  products and this undoubtedly has positive impact on the demand of  Armenian products in Iran. In this context we have big expectations",  he noted. 

According to Azizyan the government faces the following tasks: to  create assisting mechanisms for exporters and solve the problem of  making money transfers. "In this case we will manage to diversify and  increase export to Iran", he summarized. 

According to the National Statistics Service of Armenia trade  turnover between Armenia and Iran totaled $219.3 mln in Jan-Nov 2016  with 13.4% y-o-y decline. Particularly, export dropped by 6.1% to  $70.2mln and import by 16.5% to $149.1 mln.