Thursday, June 9 2022 17:44

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.