ArmInfo. Armenian government's number one task within launch of FEZ in Meghri is to ensure possibility of making bank transfers between Armenia and Iran, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments Hovhannes Azizyan stated at the press conference today.
"Development of business is simply impossible without establishing cooperation among the banks", he stressed. In this light Azizyan expressed hope that the issue will be solved within the upcoming two months considering the agreement between the heads of the states on cooperation of Central Banks. According to the Deputy Minister solution of the issue of certification of Armenian products on the Iranian market was an achievement for conducting efficient export policy. However, despite these positive changes, the Deputy Minister expressed opinion that the amount of trade turnover in the current year will not demonstrate significant dynamics and will remain on the level of 2016-within $280 mln. However, Azizyan does not rule out that export of non-dominant products such as meat, mineral water, chocolate, bakery food to Iran will grow by 30% (the major share of export accounts for electricity).
At the same time the Deputy Minister expressed assurance that all the Armenian goods will find their place on the Iranian market. "Each year number of tourists from Iran grows, they are familiar with our products and this undoubtedly has positive impact on the demand of Armenian products in Iran. In this context we have big expectations", he noted.
According to Azizyan the government faces the following tasks: to create assisting mechanisms for exporters and solve the problem of making money transfers. "In this case we will manage to diversify and increase export to Iran", he summarized.
According to the National Statistics Service of Armenia trade turnover between Armenia and Iran totaled $219.3 mln in Jan-Nov 2016 with 13.4% y-o-y decline. Particularly, export dropped by 6.1% to $70.2mln and import by 16.5% to $149.1 mln.