YEREVAN, APRIL 19, ARMENPRESS. The exporting process and all procedures into EU countries will be facilitated for Armenian businessmen as the European Union will create a single platform.

Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments Avag Avanesyan told ARMENPRESS in an interview that an agreement was reached on the matter at the April 9-11 Economic Development and Market Opportunities platform session of the Eastern Partnership multilateral cooperation in Brussels.

“The Government of Armenia and the EU have active cooperation. We can say this was a summarizing conference where various issues were discussed, mostly economic issues, ranging from improvement of trade ties up to assistance to SMEs. In trading issues we mostly discussed how to create opportunities for Armenian businessmen to be better informed on required procedures for exports to EU, market regulations and opportunities. From this perspective the EU has initiated to create a single platform where all these procedures will be presented,” Avanesyan said.

What does this single platform imply and what opportunities will it give to Armenian businesses?

I believe this is a rather significant information distribution tool. For example, if an Armenian business is willing to export apple to France, where must they obtain all required documents from, in what time, what standards must it comply with? It implies that all information will be collected in a single place, and it will gradually be presented to businessmen in a simplified way. This is the first step for an exporter, explaining the entire process will be very difficult. There are also private standards in addition to governmental standards. We are also trying to work in this direction. But the main primary information for exporters will be available.

In addition to the single platform, Avanesyan says they’ve discussed other ways to promote commercial ties, such as the possibility of enabling Armenia to benefit from the financial assistance tools for boosting exports, which is currently only available for countries that have an Enhanced and Comprehensive Free Trade Zone agreement with the EU.

“We’ve raised the issue whether or not it is possible for a country which doesn’t have the agreement to have the chance to benefit from this tool. The EU accepted this rather positively. And we already began work in this direction. We’ve discussed how our businesses can meet technical requirements. For this, the infrastructures must be improved in Armenia, so that our producers can show that their production meets the market standards,” he said.

Avanesyan said a preliminary agreement has been reached on exchange of experience over business community support between Eastern Partnership countries.

“Our SME support organizations will work together and carry out exchange of experience. For example, the Swedish model has rather interested Armenia,” he said.

Interview by Anna Grigoryan

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan