ArmInfo.This January-July,Armenian-Russian trade recorded a 70% growth, up to $3.7bln, with Armenia's exports to Russia totaling $2bln and Russia's exports to Armenia, $1.7bln, Armenia's Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan stated at a business lunch attended by Armenian and Russian businessmen.
Last year, the bilateral trade showed a 2-fold growth, he said. "Our bilateral trade is rapidly growing, but we see it is not the limit. We plan to build up our cooperation in various fields," he said.
In turn, Russian the Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov noted that the reconfiguration of the Russian economy opens up opportunities for Armenia, whose economy uses these opportunities.
He noted that today not only trade is growing between Armenia and Russia, but also cooperation ties, mutual investments. The Russian official called the growth of mutual tourism important, which indicates the growth of contacts between people. "We don't need to create anything. The main thing is to strengthen our mutual understanding and mutual trust," Reshetnikov stressed.
The minister also noted that many Russian businessmen of Armenian origin are extremely effective in the context of investing in the Russian economy, at the same time, the latter do a lot for Armenia. "All this strengthens our interaction, our friendship. Because in the end, the economy is trust and mood," he concluded.
Russia remains the leading investor in Armenia, the share of which dominates both in the total volume of investments and in FDI - respectively 80.6% and 60%. In particular, in 2022 Russia received total foreign investment in the amount of 158.581 billion drams or $403 million, with an annual jump of 26.7 times (in dollar terms). And in the form of FDI, 108.983 billion drams or $277 million came from the Russian Federation, with an annual jump of 7.5 times. The dominant part of investments from Russia is directed to the mining industry, the real estate market, the energy complex and gas supply, and the telecommunications sector.
In 2022, the leadership in foreign trade turnover in general, and in exports and imports in particular, continues to be held by Russia. In particular, the foreign trade turnover between Russia and Armenia reached $5.03 billion in 2022, with a sharp acceleration in annual growth from 20.9% to 91.7%, mainly due to a jump in exports by several times. Thus, the volume of exports of goods from Armenia to Russia significantly accelerated the annual growth from 24.5% to 2.9 times, which, at a slightly less restrained upward pace, was also observed in the volume of imports of goods from Russia to Armenia - from 19.2% to 46. 9%, with the provision of volumes at the level of $2.4 billion and $2.6 billion, respectively. In the foreign trade turnover of Armenia, the share of Russia increased year-on-year from 31.3% to 35.6%, against the backdrop of a significant increase in the share in exports from 27.9% to 45 % with a decline in the share in imports from 33.3% to 29.9%.
According to Rosstat, 789.1 thousand Russians visited Armenia in 2022. According to the source, in general, the tourist flow from Russia abroad increased by 17.1% last year, amounting to 22.5 million trips. Of the total number of outbound tourist trips, 77.7% were carried out to non-CIS countries and 22.3% - to the CIS member states.
