ArmInfo. Kazakhstan has had a lot of discussion with Armenia on the creation of joint cooperation within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Armenia Timur Urazaev stated this in an interview with ArmInfo correspondent.
"We talked a lot about this, and we offer these schemes to the business community in Armenia and Kazakhstan. Well, firstly, the simplest thing that lies on the surface is the creation of production facilities in Armenia with the possibility of using the GSP + system mode - for Europe, and GSP for America and Canada. Kazakhstan has exactly the same system for production and export to the EU and the USA. And you can use the potentials of not even all the territories of our countries, but only special economic zones - the Armenian Syunik and Kazakhstan Khorgos, where can be organized to call for joint production and to produce and send all several thousand commodity items falling under these systems, "the diplomat said.
The ambassador recalled that Kazakhstan's Khorgos, for example, opens up opportunities for entering the huge Chinese market. According to him, a similar situation is in Armenia, and goods through the Meghri FTA can be sent to Europe, America, or to Iran with 80 million markets.
"But, these are our wishes and recommendations of the governments of Kazakhstan and Armenia, but the business community should take on practical matters. We can only give recommendations, and states and governments do everything to ease the regulatory conditions, and business, as they say, must earn money for itself profit and win your piece of the market, " Urazaev said.
At the same time, referring to the possibilities of expanding the economic cooperation between the two countries and the implementation of new projects, the diplomat noted that he could not yet name specific projects. He recalled that in the territory of Kazakhstan more than 200 operating joint ventures, in the territory of Armenia, Kazakhstani investors are usually represented as minority participants in various enterprises. And according to updated data from 2003 to 2019, about 56 million US dollars were invested by Kazakhstani investors in various projects in Armenia. "While all this remains at the same level as I know. But, there are no new projects to boast of. Now is the beginning of the year, and there is only a certain exchange of information on the possibilities of a trade export-import line of goods. I expect that in 2020 some new niches will appear in our trade turnover and in our markets, and some, albeit insignificant decline recorded in 2019 will be overcome>, - the ambassador of Kazakhstan summed up.
It should be noted that the volume of foreign trade of Armenia with the EAEU countries increased over the 11 months of 2019 by 12.8% per annum to $ 2.05 billion, while with the EU countries, on the contrary, it decreased by 7.6% to $ 1.6 billion, while a year earlier In both directions, growth was recorded - by 13.6% and 22.6%, respectively. Moreover, the export of Armenian goods to the EAEU countries slowed down growth from 20.5% to 10.7%, amounting to $ 694.7 million, while import growth accelerated from 10.3% to 13.9% to $ 1.4 billion, while with countries The EU and exports and imports fell into decline - by 14.2% and 3.5%, respectively, to $ 549.4 million and $ 1.01 billion, compared with 11.3% and 30.8% a year earlier. Among the EAEU countries in terms of foreign trade, Belarus is followed by Russia - $ 60.1 million (y-o-y growth accelerated from 14.8% to 28.7%), Kazakhstan - $ 7.4 million (reversal from 48.1% growth by 37.4% recession) and Kyrgyzstan - $ 3.2 million (a way out of the 43.7% decline in growth by 3.3 fold). Export of Armenian goods to Belarus slowed down growth from 81% to 33.7%, while import growth jumped from 2.8% to 27%. Exports of goods to Kazakhstan turned the dynamics from a 2-fold increase to a 45.4% decline, while the import continued to decline with a slowdown from 16.8% to 14.4%. In the direction of Kyrgyzstan, exports left the 57.2% decline for a 4.2-fold increase, while the dynamics of imports, on the contrary, turned from a 14.7-fold increase to a 33.4% decline.
