Armenian Government takes steps to foster exports – summery of 100 days of Cabinet’s activities

YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan held a press conference on January 13, during which he summed up the 100 days of his government’s activities, presented the problems as diagnosed by individual sectors, gave his vision for their solution and introduced the work done over the past 100 days.

As “Armenpress” was informed from the press service of the Armenian Government, the Premier stated that Armenia has to expect economic growth based on increase of export levels considering the small domestic market and absence of economies of scale.

But it should also be mentioned that exports still comprise a small part of the GDP. In 2015 exports of products constituted 15.4% of the GDP, while exports of products and services together constituted 29.8% of the GDP. Despite the forecasts of 2016 to have a significant growth of exports in 2017, the index will remain low, approximately 18%.

The high level of centralization of both the export markets and the products exported remains a problematic issue. The volume of exports to neighboring countries is not sufficient – Armenia’s exports to Russia per capita amounted to 1.7 USD, while the same to Iran amounted to 1.0 USD. As a result, Armenian enterprises have a low capacity for exports and there is a lack of clusters with export potential, no investment by industrial enterprises to foster output, and low development level of market services supporting exports.

Steps taken

1. In order to find a solution to the obstacles of Armenian exports to Russia a working group was set at Verin Lars (Upper Lars) checkpoint in December comprised of officials from the SRC and the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments.

2. Standards defining the features of the local production have been elaborated and submitted to the Eurasian Economic Commission.

3. The fact that “National Accreditation Body” SNCO of Armenia became an associated member of the European cooperation for Accreditation and signed the agreement of accession in November 2016 was an important step to simplify the entry to the EU market.

4. Talks are underway with the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran for recognizing the certifications of Armenia and opening representations or branches of food and non-food products’ conformity assessment bodies in Armenia. The Iranian side has already positively responded to the initiative.

5. Works are underway to create a free economic zone on the border with Iran. It’s planned that the construction works of the free economic zone will be launched by April.

6. As a result of Armenian President’s visit to the United Arab Emirates a number of agreements have been reached over the exports of Armenian agricultural products and foodstuff. A visit of a delegation of the UAE is expected in the near future during which the roadmap of these agreements will be further clarified.

7. Talks are underway with transnational corporations to ensure the representation of Armenian products in their networks. Particularly, the visit of the Russian representation of METRO AG Company has been organized. Currently, talks are underway with a range of companies for fostering Armenian exports.