Road communications problem exaggerated –head of business union

YEREVAN, December 2. /ARKA/. The problem of road, rail and other types of communications is exaggerated, Vahram Mirakyan, head of the Mantashyants Entrepreneurs Union, told ARKA news agency.

"Yes, logistics may be more expensive somewhere, but this problem is exaggerated. There is a problem with Russia, which is an important destination for Armenian exports, but not the biggest one. The biggest one are exportss of ore to China and Europe," he said.

According to Mirakyan, the main export problems are the damage incurred by companies that sell their goods in US dollars, and the logistics with Russia due to difficulties at the Upper Lars border crossing.

"At this point, we have no problem communicating with the world. Seven of the ten biggest shipping companies in the world have offices in Armenia. Also Armenia exports 10 thousand tons of ore daily to Europe and China and not only. Armenia has no problems from that point of view," he said.

Mirakyan also said that the Union is now establishing branches in different countries to enable businesses to cooperate and interact in different markets.

According to the National Statistics Committee (NSC), Armenia's foreign trade in January-October 2022 amounted to about $10.9 billion, a 66.4% surge from the same period of 2021.

Armenia's exports rose by 71.2% from January-October 2021 to over $4.1 billion and imports amounted to about $6.8 billion, an increase of 63.5% compared to January-October 2021.
The bulk of Armenian exports went to Russia - $1.4 bln, up 2.4 times, UAE - $279 million, up 4.7 times and China -$269 million, down 10.8%.-0-