Armenian-Iranian trade turnover expected to reach US $220m – official

Yerevan is hosting an Armenian-Iranian business convention as part of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Armenia.

Armenia’s Minister of Economic Development and Investments Hovhannes Azizyan told reporters that the convention could be greatly beneficial for both Armenian and Iranian businessmen in terms of development of business cooperation.

“We expect it will enable the both countries to increase their trade turnover and bilateral investments,” he said.

The Iranian side could be greatly interested in Armenia’s pharmaceutical industry as Iran has a developed pharmaceutical industry.

“In this respect, we see opportunities for exporting medicines to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) market by means of joint ventures as a common medicines market will start operating from January 1, 2017,” Mr Azizyan said.

The Iranian side is also considering operating joint chemical industrial enterprises, which have great potential for exporting products to the EEU market.

Armenian-Iranian trade turnover is expected to be brought up to US $220m and doubled in coming years.

“Armenia’s exports to Iran total US $70-80m, while Iranian exports to Armenia US $150-170m,” Mr Azizyan said.

Over 160 Armenian and Iranian companies are participating in the business convention.