ArmInfo. Armenia's Ministry of Economy plans to see a $1 billion turnover in trade between Armenia and the Arab countries by the end of 2023, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said in an interview with GlobalCitizen.
As to the plans to expand economic relationship with Gulf Cooperation Council and Arab countries, Mr Kerobyan said: "Our main trade partner is the UAE. With Saudi Arabia we can see growth in trade. It [the relationship] began with Dubai Expo 2020 when we exerted a lot of effort to improve relationships between Armenia and the UAE and other Arab countries, which created more opportunities for us."
"Expo 2020 in Dubai was undoubtedly an excellent platform for us, bringing recognition in terms of both business opportunities and the leisure sector. This year, travel regulations have been eased for all UAE residents, making travel to Armenia very simple," Mr Kerobyan said.
"Consequently, air traffic has increased dramatically as more and more travellers from the UAE are seeing Armenia as an attractive destination. Wizz Air, Air Arabia, FlyDubai and Fly Arna, which is a joint venture between the Armenian National Interests Fund (ANIF) and the Air Arabia Group, all have regular flights to and from Yerevan and UAE," the minister said.
"We have personal relationships with ministers in the UAE, we can say that things are moving rapidly. Our investors go there, Arab investors come here. We have affiliated banks, diamond cutting, finance, jewellery and general regional trade as examples. Armenia is a part of the Eurasian Economic Union with good ties with other countries and the UAE is a trading hub for the GCC and much wider regions, so it is easy to reach and connect with different business people and work together. Trade this year has been extremely good and there are several investment projects ongoing in these countries with more in the pipeline," Mr Kerobyan said.
As to Armenia's trade with other Arab countries and his expectations, Mr Kerobyan said:
"I have already spoken about it this year, but hopefully this is just a part of it because we see a lot of professionals, especially in Saudi Arabia right now, as well as Qatar and other countries. We have a plan to diversify to the UAE, the GCC countries, Europe and the Americas. The Eurasian Economic Union is now confident and ready to engage in business world-wide."
Minister Vahan Kerobyan's interview in full is available here:
https://global-citizen.com/business/profiles/interview-with-the-minister-of-economy-of- armenia/?fbclid=IwAR3KgHKzhbkZRPpS6dp1f_MA23kN2OqEV-n_4-f-LCrcApbVrT-j8Rj2lGU
Last year, Armenia-UAE trade totaled $593.1mln - a 5.3-fold growth against 2021. Exports totaled $534.1mln (a 7.2-fold growth), with imports totaling $59mln (58.4%).
In January-September, UAE investments in Armenia totaled $5.2mln, with direct foreign investments totaling $4.8 (89%).
