Director of the Czech Industrial Confederation sees great and long-term potential for cooperation in Armenia

ArmInfo. President of the Czech industrial confederation, Lukas Martin, sees great and long-term potential for development of economic cooperation in Armenia.

In an interview with ArmInfo correspondent on the fields of today's Armenian-Czech business forum, Lukas Martin stressed the importance of Armenia as a country in which Czech entrepreneurs could significantly improve their positions on foreign markets. "Armenia is a small Christian country with excellent personnel potential, could become a good gateway to the region for Czech business. We have excellent political relations, and politicians have actually opened our doors for closer cooperation", stressed the head of the Czech Industrial Association. According to him, economic cooperation between the Czech Republic and Armenia could potentially move in two significant directions. First, they are purely trade relations, expansion of mutual export of products to new markets. The Czech Republic is ready to offer Armenia machinery products - cars, tractors, other agricultural machinery, as well as technologies and IT solutions for various fields, for example, logistics, transportation, services for Armenian nuclear power, development of alternative energy capacities, etc. Another direction of development of cooperation, according to Lukas Martin, can be based on the possibilities of creating platforms for the organization of joint ventures in Armenia, whose products will be supplied to neighboring countries - Iran, Russia, and also to China. "Therefore, we are here for several days in order to really try to establish these bridges for long- term and serious cooperation," the source noted. He agreed that the Armenian export to the Czech Republic is still very weak and expressed the idea of the need to diversify the economy for diversification of export supplies. "This is a long-term problem of the Armenian economy and I am sure that in time it will find its solution," said Lukas Martin.

At the today's business forum, timed to the official visit to Armenia of the President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Milan Stech, there were about 20 representatives of various business structures in the Czech Republic. The Armenian Development Fund arranged a presentation of the country's economic potential for the guests. Meetings were held in the B2B format.

According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, the foreign trade turnover between Armenia and the Czech Republic in January-July 2017 amounted to $ 14.95 million with an annual growth of 88.8%, in particular exports - $ 952.2 thousand with an annual decline of 27.5% and imports - over $ 14 million with an annual growth of 2.1 times.