Armenia should produce high-quality products to have access to many  world markets - Kerobyan

ArmInfo. Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Keorbyan assures that "at the moment, cars mainly pass  through the Upper Lars checkpoint."

Early this morning, it was reported that traffic in Lars was again  closed for trucks due to heavy snow.  "The problems at Lars arose due  to increased (phytosanitary) controls. We initiated discussions on  the issue at various levels. As a result, since last Friday-Saturday,  the traffic flow at the checkpoint has been restored," Kerobyan said  on today in parliament during government hour.

At the same time, the minister emphasized that it is important for  the RA authorities that the products produced in RA are of high  quality. And not only in terms of entering new markets, but also  because it is important for the health of the country's population,  he noted.

"In this regard, we are determined - to achieve the production of  high-quality products in the Republic of Armenia in the shortest  possible time, meeting high standards," the head of the Ministry of  Economy indicated, adding that from 20 billion in 2020 it increased  to approximately 90 billion and all ongoing programs serve this  purpose.

Regarding concerns regarding the import of agricultural products  flooding the Armenian market, due to which local farmers are  suffering losses, Kerobyan said that according to his data, there is  no extraordinary increase in imports of agricultural products.

On October 26, traffic on the Gudauri-Kobi section of the  Mtskheta-Stepantsminda-Lars international highway was closed to  trucks due to unfavorable weather conditions. On October 28, it was  reported that about 1,600 Armenian trucks were waiting to pass  through the Upper Lars checkpoint. About 800 of them were idle on the  territory of Georgia - at the entrance to the checkpoint due to  intensified laboratory control in recent days, as a result of which  several dozen cars have already been returned to the Republic of  Armenia. On October 29, commenting on Rosselkhoznadzor's statements  about the increase in violations of the supply of vegetable products  from Armenia and the reduction of control by the RA Food Safety  Inspectorate , Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan expressed his  bewilderment  at the fact that during the whole year "35 trucks were  returned (Armenia) while equally on the two days mentioned. And this  is in the case when no changes were made in the regulations or in the  quality of the supplied products". He stated that the Ministry of  Economy of Armenia, within the EAEU, convened an urgent meeting on  the situation in Upper Lars.