Washington to discuss possibilities to revise obsolete agreement on avoidance of double taxation between Armenia and USA

ArmInfo. Today, on March 19, the  second meeting of the Armenia-US Trade and Investment Council will be  held in Washington. 

"The upcoming meeting of the Armenian-American Council on Trade and  Investment confirms the United States commitment to deepening  cooperation with Armenia in the field of trade and investment," US  Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills said.

As the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development and  Investments of Armenia reports, the Armenian delegation to the US  will be headed by Deputy Minister Hovhannes Azizyan. Issues related  to the expansion of bilateral trade and economic relations and  investment cooperation, in the sphere of technical obstacles to  trade, sanitation and phytosanitary, customs relations and  intellectual property will be discussed during the meeting. It is  also expected to hold a round table with the participation of  business circles of the two countries.

As Ambassador Mills pointed out, for today progress in the sphere of  bilateral trade relations is obvious, in particular in 2017, the  growth of trade turnover was fixed by 42%. "This meeting, following  the visit of the US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and  Business Affairs Brian McFithers, is another step forward in the  dialogue between countries aimed at removing obstacles to the  expansion of mutual trade and investment," he said.

The Armenian delegation, Hovhannes Azizyan said, is planning to  discuss the current regulation in the sphere of trade and economic  relations at the session, considering the possibilities of  simplifying trade, which, necessarily, will have a stimulating effect  on mutual trade. The investment environment in the Republic of  Armenia and works aimed at its improvement will also be presented.  "With the American side, those events will be discussed that will  make the investment environment of Armenia more attractive for  companies from the United States," he said.

Earlier, ArmInfo informed that the Armenian government plans to  address the issue of excluding double taxation between Armenia and  the US in March 2018 - during the regular meeting of the  intergovernmental commission. As the Armenian Ministry of Finance has  repeatedly stated, in any case, the absence of an agreement on the  exclusion of double taxation hinders the adoption of positive  decisions by business entities. The issue of exclusion of double  taxation between Armenia and the US has been discussed for over 20  years - since 1994, the Armenian government has raised this issue. In  2000, during the Armenian- American intergovernmental meeting, the  issue of the need to conclude a treaty was raised. Since then,  although preparatory work is under way to conclude a treaty, in fact,  the talks themselves have not started.  In early February this year.  T

he US Department of Treasury expressed its readiness to discuss the  issue of revising the Treaty on Avoiding Double Taxation with  Armenia. Representatives of the Armenian National Committee of  America (ANCA) with the head of the US Ministry of Finance discussed  prospects of concluding a new Agreement on avoidance of double  taxation with Armenia.

It should be noted that Armenia has similar agreements with about 50  countries. The purpose of these agreements is to eliminate double  taxation in foreign trade between the two states, to avoid tax  discrimination with respect to economic entities of the parties, to  exclude double taxation on property and income, and to create a  predictable and stable tax environment for business.