ArmInfo. Acting Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan and Deputy Minister Narek Teryan took part in the Armenian-Iranian business forum organized by Prom Expo and IPM companies.
As reported by the press service of the RA Ministry of Economy, representatives of the RA Ministry of High Technologies, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Armenia Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri, representatives of about 80 large Armenian and Iranian companies also took part in the event. Companies participating in the conference represented various sectors: industry, construction, agriculture, food, textile, pharmaceutical industry, medical equipment manufacturing and other strategically important areas. The goal of the conference is to stimulate the development of Armenian-Iranian trade relations, introduce new import and export standards, as well as promote the strengthening and deepening of business ties between the two countries.
Welcoming the organizers and participants of the conference, Vahan Kerobyan noted that such events are equally important for both countries.
In his opinion, this is a good opportunity for Iranian partners to discover opportunities for entering the markets of other countries of the Eurasian Economic Union through Armenia.
"We are ready to combine efforts with our Iranian partners to jointly conquer new markets. Iran actively encourages the creation and promotion of science-based companies. We have also adopted this approach in our economic policy. Our approaches and views also intersect here, "added Vahan Kerobyan.
At the same time, acting Minister expressed his readiness to support the activation and expansion of the Armenian-Iranian economic ties and trade relations. In turn, Zohouri noted that stable cooperation has been established between Iran and Armenia in various fields, and Iranian scientific organizations are ready to transfer their knowledge, experience and technologies to the Armenian side, as well as cooperate in the field of high technologies.
"The organization of such conferences provides an opportunity to present the potential that exists on the Iranian side, to prepare a fertile ground for establishing bilateral cooperation in this direction," the Ambassador said. During the conference, B2B meetings were organized between Armenian and Iranian businessmen, during which the possibilities of establishing new business relations were discussed. Note that, according to the RA Statistical Committee, in January-February 2021 Iran took the third position in Armenia's foreign trade turnover - $ 58.4 million, despite the deterioration of the annual dynamics from 42.5% growth to 0.3% decline. In particular, the volume of exports of Armenian goods to Iran amounted to $ 7.2 million, with a deterioration in annual dynamics from an increase of 2.5-fold to a 45.7% decline, and imports of goods from Iran - $ 51.2 million (3rd position) with a slowdown in growth from 26.9% to 13%. Armenia's foreign trade turnover with the EAEU countries in January-February 2021 amounted to $ 296.6 million, with a deterioration in annual dynamics from 9.7% growth to 12.5% decline, against the backdrop of a reversal of import dynamics from 11.5% growth to 18.8% decline - to $ 194.5 million and a slowdown in export growth from 5.5% to 2.5% - to $ 102.1 million. And Armenia's foreign trade turnover with the EU countries in January-February 2021 lingered in a downward trend with an acceleration of annual rates from 1.9% to 3.2%, amounting to $ 188.9 million, against the backdrop of a decline in both exports by 7.4% to $ 76.2 million and imports by 0.2% to $ 112.6 million, while a year earlier in the same period, export growth by 3.5% was accompanied by a 5.5% decline in imports.
As a result, Armenia's negative foreign trade balance accelerated the annual decline in January-February 2021 to 28.6% from 10.3% a year earlier, amounting to $ 216.7 million. In particular, the negative foreign trade balance of Armenia with the EAEU countries decreased in January-February 2021 by 33.9% per annum - to $ 92.4 million, and with the EU countries, on the contrary, increased by 19.3% - to $ 36.4 million, while in the same period of 2020 the deficit of foreign trade with the EAEU countries increased by 15, 5%, and with the EU countries it was in a decline of 23.4%.
