ArmInfo.Armenia's Minister of Economy, Vahan Kerobyan, is convinced that EAEU membership does not hinder the export of Armenian products to the EU.
"There is nothing like that. For example, Kazakhstan has the largest trading partners - Russia and China, which are almost identical. The same can be said about Kyrgyzstan," the minister said on November 29 in a conversation with journalists.
According to him, there is a possibility to export EU goods and they are being exported. At the same time, the products produced must meet European standards, Kerobyan noted.
According to the Statistics Committee, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in January-September 2023 amounted to 5.3 trillion drams ($13.7 billion) with a slowdown in y-o-y growth to 47.2% (from last year's 62.5%). Russia is traditionally the leading trade partner of Armenia, trade turnover with which amounted to 34.7% of trade volume, compared to 34% a year earlier. In particular, during the reporting period the volume of trade turnover amounted to $4.2 billion with a y-o-y growth of 56.3%.
As Kerobyan previously stated Trade turnover between Armenia and the European Union for 9 months of 2023 amounted to about $2.1 billion, which is 40% more than last year. Thus, trade turnover with France increased by 53%, with Germany by 40%, and with the Netherlands by 44%. According to the minister, over the 9 months of this year, $488 million worth of products were exported from Armenia to the EU.
Moreover, these products are not only food and alcoholic beverages, but also textiles, industrial products and ore. "To diversify foreign trade relations, the Ministry of Economy organized business forums in Germany, France and other countries this year," Kerobyan said, adding that the department he heads is making every effort to expand the range of exported products. He also warned that control over the quality of Armenian products will begin to gradually tighten. This will remove obstacles to the supply of goods produced in Armenia to the European market.
