YEREVAN, JANUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. In the period of 2008-2014 surveyed countries (Austria, the Netherlands, Turkey, China, Iran, India, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, and Japan) that invest in the EAEU increased their FDI stock in EAEU countries to $82.8 billion. “Armenpress” reports that the research headlined “EAEU and Eurasia: Monitoring and Analysis of Direct Investments” done by Eurasian Development Bank’s Integration studies center mentions about this.

According to the research, Asian FDI in the EAEU region continues to grow: as at the end of 2014, FDI of Turkey, China, Iran, India, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, and Japan reached $44 billion. The most attractive sectors for them at the moment are hydrocarbon production and transportation. At the same time, significant amounts are channelled into mechanical engineering, construction, and finance.

Chinese investors show the strongest dynamics of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the EAEU countries. Between 2008 and 2014, China's FDI stock in the region more than doubled, from $11 billion to $27.1 billion. Japanese FDI reached $14.7 billion, and South Korean FDI reached $1.9 billion.

The data on FDI in the EAEU countries suggest that Chinese FDI is primarily concentrated in Kazakhstan, and Japanese in Russia.

Iran continues to increase its investments in the EAEU countries at low, yet stable rates. The main recipient of its FDI is Belarus (commercial construction and development). The prevailing sector in the sectoral breakdown of Iran's FDI in the EAEU countries is construction, followed by infrastructure networks and transportation. According to the EDB Centre for Integration Studies, Iranian FDI stock in the surveyed post-Soviet countries is more than 90 times higher than counter-investment in Iran ($966 billion vs. $10 million). The main reason for low EAEU FDI in this country is Iran's lack of favorable business conditions.

As distinct from investments by East Asian countries and Iran, Turkish FDI in EAEU countries is distributed by sectors more uniformly. It is represented across all aggregated sectors, except non-ferrous metals and oil and gas sector. Geographical diversification is also observed in most sectors. Turkish FDI stock in the EAEU region as at the beginning of 2015 totalled $7.9 billion. Russia's share in Turkish FDI in EAEU was 72.5%, Belarus'   13%, and Kazakhstan's 10.8%.

Indian FDI in EAEU is distributed between two countries only: Russia ($3.6 billion), and Kazakhstan (US $2.3 billion). Other EAEU economies are of low interest to Indian TNCs for the time being. Two sectors – ferrous metals (FDI in Kazakhstan) and oil and gas sector (primarily, through ONGC's participation in Sakhalin-1 project) – dominate in the sectoral breakdown.

Despite low growth rates in the global economy, as well as volatility and uncertainty in financial markets, the investment expansion by Asian countries in the EAEU economies has not suspended. The experts of the EDB Centre for Integration Studies believe that Asian FDI in EAEU countries will continue to grow. The main role will be played by Chinese investors, which try to give effect to memoranda and preliminary agreements entered into in 2014-2015 and thereby to increase their expansion in a wide range of directions. Japanese companies will try to occupy free niches in Central Asia, where competition among transnational corporations is still low. Iranian investors will continue to strengthen their investments.