ArmInfo.Being at the heart of commodity flows, Armenia has every chance of becoming one of the transit hubs for the sale of products of Russian manufacturers and the supply of necessary products for the Russian Federation. Andrey Rusakov, a political scientist and director of the Center for European-Asian Studies (Yekaterinburg) expressed a similar opinion during a press conference on November 10.
He explained that the aviation and automotive industries were hit hardest by sanctions in the Russian Federation, since most foreign brands left, and only Chinese and Russian ones remained. However, the matter is not only in the withdrawal of companies, but also in the fact that the service maintenance of aircraft has ceased. There was a need for spare parts, and Iran, being under sanctions for several decades, has accumulated certain competencies in this sense. In this context, Rusakov explained that the role of Armenia as a transit country is increasing in terms of the supply of important components for Russian industry from Iran to the Russian Federation.
The political scientist also recalled the discussions on the formation by Iran of a transport corridor through the Black Sea with the support of India. According to him, the transport corridor, with the opening of a free trade zone between the EAEU and Iran, will radically expand transit opportunities for goods from the EAEU countries to conquer the East.
"We are at the peak of the formation of a new economic model. A holy place is never empty. I believe that Armenian producers can do a lot for themselves if they begin to actively develop, including the Russian market," Rusakov emphasized.
It should be noted that Iran intends to connect its ports located in the Gulf of Oman (port of Chabahar) and the Persian Gulf (ports of Bandar Abbas, Imam Khomeini and Khorramshahr) in the south of the country with ports located on the Black and Caspian Seas through the Iranian railway network. The connection of the gulf with the Black Sea will connect four key sea basins, namely, the Gulf of Oman, the Caspian Sea (Iran-Azerbaijan), the Black Sea (Georgia, Bulgaria) and the Mediterranean Sea (Greece). In the South Caucasus, Armenia is the only country that is a member of the EAEU and therefore serves as a direct bridge between Iran and the Union, which clearly underlines the importance of the Persian Gulf-Black Sea international transport and transit corridor for Iran
