Armenia Keen to Host Iran-Eurasia Trade Office in Yerevan
IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK
TEHRAN – President of Armenia’s Chamber of Commerce Mr. Martin Sargsyan yesterday announced readiness of his country to host Iran-Eurasia trade office which can enhance bilateral trade.
Sargysian who was leading a trade delegation yesterday met Iranian trade activists and later he met president of Iran’s chamber of commerce Mr. Gholam-Hossein Shafei.
During the meeting, he pointed to the interest of Armenian companies to expand trade exchange with Iranians, reiterating that Iranian companies can transfer some parts of their production line to Armenia and then export their products to Eurasia without paying customs tariff.
He suggested Iran to launch the Iran-Eurasia Trade office in Armenia and called it a serious solution for expansion of economic relations among the countries in the region and Iran. He also announced his readiness to invest one million dollars on this project.
He also referred to the point that when Armenia was under economic siege, it was Iran which rushed to its help and saved Armenia from the deadlock, reiterating that Armenia will never forget this help.
Sargsyan also pointed to the joint meeting of officials of chambers of commerce of Eurasian Economic Union in Armenia which will be held in May 2020 and officially invited Mr. Shafei to the event.
The Armenian businessman also called for launching an arbitration center for solving probable disputes among economic activists.
Mr. Shafei, for his part, said that private sector in Iran is eager to expand economic relations which is currently insignificant while bilateral political relation is growing.
He added that a question is raised why economic exchanges of both countries are insignificant while there are great commonalities between both countries. He reiterated that if the answer to this question is found, then finding solution for boosting economic relation will be easy.
Shafei also pointed to the good economic growth in Armenia especially because of efforts of small and medium sized efforts in mining sector and currently the average growth rate is 6 percent.
He also said that the grounds for cooperation between Iran and Armenia are diverse and both countries can focus on cooperating on transportation and transit which can be launchpad for expansion of relations and link the countries of Eurasia.
Shafei also pointed to bartering goods as an appropriate solution for restoring trade relation, reiterating that Iran has reached good agreements with Russia in this field. He concluded that Armenia and other countries of Eurasia can cooperate with each other via bartering goods and in form of a trilateral cooperation among Iran, Russia and the third party country.
