Situation in Upper Lars requires urgent solution: Armenian, Russian economy ministers meet at checkpoint

YEREVAN, JUNE 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan met with Russia’s Minister of Economic Development Maksim Reshetnikov on June 11 in Upper Lars, the only checkpoint of the Russian-Georgian border, the Armenian ministry of economy said.

Reconstruction works are underway since March 2021 to increase the capacity of the checkpoint.

“The situation in Upper Lars requires urgent solution because the cargo trucks pass the Georgian section of the road in 20-30 days. These are goods that Russian companies and consumers need. The situation will further worsen given that the harvest season has already begun”, the Armenian Minister of Economy said.

The capacity of the checkpoint is expected to increase by 6.4 times after reconstruction. Currently, an average of 800-1000 trucks are passing through the checkpoint, but after reconstruction their number will rise to over 2500 daily.

“We all understand the importance of increasing the capacity of the checkpoint both in technical and documentation terms. This is the key condition of strengthening the trade-economic cooperation between Russia and Armenia. That is why the reconstruction works here are being carried out without the suspension of the operation of the checkpoint. Constructors promise to end it in the third quarter of 2022”, the Russian Minister of Economic Development said.