ArmInfo.Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan will leave for Georgia on June 10 to discuss and find a solution to the situation at the Upper Lars checkpoint with Georgian partners, and on the following day a meeting with Russian partners will be held. This became known following the briefing of the head of the RA Economic Department.
He noted that the serious problems that have arisen at the Upper Lars checkpoint impede the implementation of Armenian exports to the Russian market. <All these meetings are aimed at overcoming the logistical problems associated with cargo transportation. We are working in different areas, and I hope that the results will soon be visible>, Kerobyan emphasized.
In the current conditions, the Minister of Economy said that the department is carrying out serious work to diversify export destinations. "Because Armenia is in such a position today that it should be able to increase the geography of exports in terms of various goods," he said. In this regard, the minister pointed out the difficulties of deliveries to Europe as well. Kerobyan said that the department has developed a large transport program, which is aimed at a sharp increase in Armenia's logistical connection with the world. The official referred in this vein to the World Bank's Logistic performance index, in which Armenia occupies not the best positions. "We must do everything so that Armenia's connection with the world will increase dramatically, which will increase the competitiveness of our manufacturing industry," he concluded.
The Logistic performance index is a comparative analysis of the efficiency of logistics systems in countries around the world, compiled by the World Bank since 2007 based on a worldwide survey of logistics operators, which measures performance throughout the entire logistics supply chain in the country.
The essence of the index is a weighted average score of a country on six key parameters, in particular, the effectiveness of the customs inspection process (i.e., speed, simplicity and predictability of formalities) by border control authorities; the quality of trade and transport infrastructure (for example ports, railways, roads, information technology); ease of organizing supplies at competitive prices; competence and quality of logistics services provided in the country; the ability to track cargo; the timeliness of delivery to the destination within the planned or expected delivery times. The latest Logistic performance index rating was published in 2018, according to which Armenia occupies the 92nd place among 160 countries, against the 141st in 2016. There is a cluster of several thousand trucks at the Upper Lars checkpoint since mid-May this year. According to various estimates, up to 3,000 trucks from Armenia, Georgia and Turkey are expected to enter Russia. Losses due to downtime are estimated at an average of 600-700 euros per day. In a conversation with corr. ArmInfo, RA customs attache at the Upper Lars checkpoint Aram Tananyan noted that the congestion at the Upper Lars checkpoint is due to the limited capacity of the checkpoint. He explained that due to a significant increase in the flow of goods from Turkey to Russia, Upper Lars cannot withstand the load.
