New world order to show Armenia can and must cooperate with with all  nations - Tatul Manaseryan 

ArmInfo."We need to expand the circle of our international partners.  In the modern world, no  country can exist in complete isolation. They all interact with other states, and the wider the network of these connections, the more stable the country's position," said Doctor of Economics, head and  founder of the Alternative analytical center Tatul Manaseryan at a press conference on July 16.

He emphasized that dependence on one country or group of countries is  not a threat as long as we have the opportunity to diversify our  sources of interaction. "Small countries are obliged to establish  cooperation with all stakeholders, adapting the rules of the game in  order to stay afloat," Manaseryan said.

At the same time, the expert called the expression "sit on two  chairs" unacceptable in relation to Armenia.  He called for a global  look at the situation. As an example, Manaseryan cited Kazakhstan,  which, being an active member of the CSTO, signed a strategic  partnership agreement with the UK.   said the economist.

As the expert emphasized, the new world order will show that Armenia  can and should cooperate with all countries that do not experience  hostility or skepticism towards it. Tatul Manaseryan also noted that  no one forbids Armenia to diversify its ties, but this does not mean  abandoning the already existing successful, profitable and friendly  regional cooperation.

"It is important to remember that our foreign policy, including  economic policy, must serve national interests," Manaseryan  emphasized.

According to the economist, Armenia today supplies the EU market  mainly with raw materials, slightly less semi-finished products, and  very small volumes of finished products. While Armenia exports  finished products to the Eurasian Economic Union. He recalled that in  2023, the growth of Armenia's foreign trade turnover amounted to more  than 46%, of which almost 41% falls on the Eurasian Economic Union,  primarily on the Russian Federation.

Thus, according to Tatul Manaseryan, the strategy of diversification  and broad international cooperation is the key to sustainable  development and strengthening Armenia's position in the global  market.

According to the Statistics Committee, the foreign trade turnover of  Armenia with the EAEU countries in 2023 amounted to $7.6 billion,  with growth slowing to 42.7% (from 92.7% in 2022), against the  backdrop of a sharper slowdown in export growth to 40.8% ( from 2.8  times in 2022) - up to $3.6 billion than imports - up to 44.6% (from  49% in 2022) - up to $4 billion.

The growth of Armenia's foreign trade turnover with EU countries also  slowed down from 43.8% to 17.1%, amounting to $2.7 billion, due to  deterioration in export dynamics from 17.8% growth to 8.2% decline  and slowdown in import growth from 62.1% to 30%, the volumes of which  amounted to $709.5 million and $1.96 billion, respectively. As a  result, the negative balance of foreign trade increased in 2023 both  in the direction of the EAEU - by 91.5% to $397.4 million, and the EU  - by 70 % to $1.3 billion, while a year earlier there were  multidirectional dynamics - a decline in the balance towards the EAEU  by 74.5% with a jump in the balance towards the EU by 2.7 times.

In January-May 2024 Armenia's foreign trade turnover with the EAEU  countries reached $7.6 billion, with annual growth accelerating from  2 times to 2.7 times. This was due to a sharp acceleration in import  growth from 42.6% to 5 times, with a deterioration in export dynamics  from an increase of 3.4 times to an 18.7% decline, the volumes of  which amounted to $6.4 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively.

With the EU countries, Armenia's foreign trade turnover turned the  annual dynamics from 50.3% growth towards a 23.7% decline, amounting  to $877.4 million, due to the deterioration of the import trend from  a 2-fold increase towards 23.2% decline while accelerating the  decline in exports from 12.9% to 25%, the volumes of which amounted  to $648.3 million and $229.1 million, respectively.

As a result, the share of the EAEU in exports decreased over the year  from 53.8% to 17.6%, increasing in imports from 27.8% to 69.1%, in  both cases at the expense of Russia, and the share of EU countries  decreased both in exports from 10.7% to 3.2%, and in imports from  18.2% to 7%, mainly due to Germany and the Netherlands.