Armenia Can Become a Good Platform for International Free Economic Zones

• 04.13.2018, 17:41
• Lilia Amirkhanyan
•  EEU,  Region,  World,  Armenia

The agreement on the establishment of a free economic zone between Iran and the EAEU is planned to be concluded by the end of May. This became known the other day, when the relevant statement was made by the Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments of Armenia, Hovhannes Azizyan.

It should be recalled that the agreement is to create a temporary three-year economic zone. In this regard, we should also note several important circumstances in the interests of the national economy of Armenia:

Taking into account the existence of only a land border with Armenia, it is clear that the positive impact of the Iran-EAEA agreement will primarily affect Armenia. This is an occasion, on the one hand, to create new jobs, increase economic activity, and on the other hand, to attract other international economic centers to Armenia. The latter is especially emphasized against the backdrop of the presence of a new level of trade and economic ties with the EU.

For Armenia, the creation of this economic zone can be twice useful, since, according to the Deputy Minister, the issue of trade of 400-500 kinds of goods on privileged preferential terms is on the negotiating table, among which there are such goods, which Armenia is very interested in exporting. In particular, we are talking about such products as mineral water, soft drinks, textile products, jewelry, etc.

And last but not least, the third important factor is the growing possibility of deepening economic relations with Iran, both in terms of weakening the protectionism applied to imports from Iran, and in terms of implementing many Armenian-Iranian programs.