Armenia`s government to reimburse customs duties paid importing  countries 

ArmInfo.The Government of Armenia, represented by the Ministry of Economy, proposes to reimburse the amounts of customs duties established upon import of goods, stipulated by the legislation of the importing country, in order to stimulate exports. The project was approved on January 23 at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers.

As stated in the explanation to the document, taking into account the  difficulties associated with the export of goods from the Republic of  Armenia (due to weather problems and a decrease in transport  potential) and, as a result, a sharp increase in the cost of  transporting goods and an increase in the transportation time, the  Ministry of Economy proposes a project that will allow an RA resident  organization or an individual entrepreneur registered in the RA to  export goods produced in Armenia to EU countries, and then receive  compensation in the amount of the customs duty paid there (if the  importing country does not have a zero customs duty rate for this  product).

The basis for calculating the amount of compensation will be the  export customs value of the goods.  According to the authors of the  initiative, from the point of view of long-term competitiveness, the  project will ensure recognition of Armenian products in international  markets, diversification of export markets, as well as ensuring and  developing export promotion.

The member states of the European Union and the United Kingdom of  Great Britain and Northern Ireland were chosen as exporting  countries, since these markets require high standards, and in case of  providing temporary assistance in these markets, local companies will  be able to bring their products in line with the above-mentioned  standards and become more competitive.

According to the initiator of the project, the maximum amount of  assistance will be about 15 billion drams per year. At the same time,  it is planned that in case of providing the above-mentioned  assistance, the export volumes of the target products defined by the  project will increase next year by about 15%.

It is noted that the project comes into force on February 1, 2025 and  is valid until December 31, 2026 inclusive.

According to the RA Statistical Committee, Armenia's foreign trade  turnover with the EAEU countries in January-November 2024 amounted to  $11.9 billion, which is 68.3% higher than the figure for the previous  year. At the same time, exports decreased by 10.1% to $3.1 billion,  against the background of a 2.4-fold increase in imports to $8.8  billion. The EAEU accounts for 42.2% of the volume of foreign trade.  The EU countries account for 7.5%. In particular, the volume of trade  decreased by 14.1%, amounting to $2.1 billion. At the same time,  export volumes for the year decreased by 18.6% to $551.8 million,  against the backdrop of a 12.4% decline in imports to $1.6 billion.

At the same time, the Ministry of Economy recently reported that by  the end of 2024, Armenia increased exports to 14 countries of the  European Union. Growth was recorded in countries such as France,  Italy, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Romania, the Czech Republic,  Croatia, Portugal, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovenia.  At the same time, a decrease in export volumes, according to the  source, is observed in the direction of Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark,  Estonia, Ireland, Spain, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, the  Netherlands, Sweden and Finland.