Armenia's Economy Minister Comments on Decline in Armenian-Russian Trade

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Economy

13.10.2025, 17:51

Armenian Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan blamed the dramatic decline in foreign trade turnover between Armenia and Russia on gold re-exports.

Armenia's Economy Minister Comments on Decline in Armenian-Russian Trade

YEREVAN, October 13. /ARКА/. Armenian Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan blamed the dramatic decline in foreign trade turnover between Armenia and Russia on gold re-exports.

"First of all, I spoke about this last year and this year as well – Armenia is not receiving any benefit from gold re-exports. Even if this figure were to drop to zero or increase 100-fold, the impact on our economy, on our economic growth, would be close to zero," he stated at a press briefing.

He explained that these figures are important for Russia as an exporter and for the United Arab Emirates as an importer. "For us, this is simply a formality, a statistical figure," Papoyan said.

At journalists' request, the minister also commented on the dialogue between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding foreign trade figures at the CIS summit. When Putin asked about the Armenian-Russian trade turnover figure, Pashinyan replied, "This year it's already $4 billion." Putin disagreed, claiming the figure was higher.

As Papoyan stated, Armenia and Russia are different countries that use different methodologies for calculating statistical data.

"I can't say how they calculate it, but we can't publish anything else. If the statistical service (of Armenia) says it's a billion, we have to say it's a billion," the minister said.

Earlier, in its "Armenia Monthly Economic Update," the World Bank noted a decline in Armenia's exports and imports in April 2025 due to a weakening wave of re-exports. According to the study, Armenia's exports fell by 57.3% year-on-year, while imports fell by 43.8% year-on-year, along with a sharp decline in the re-export of precious and semi-precious stones. Diamond and gold exports declined by 85% year-on-year and 74.2% year-on-year, respectively.

According to Armstat, foreign trade turnover between Armenia and Russia amounted to $4.5 billion in the first eight months of this year (a 51.3% decline compared to January-August 2024). Meanwhile, for 2024, Armenian-Russian trade was $12.4 billion (a 56.5% increase year-on-year).-0-

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