Armenian-Russian trade turnover hit $1.2 bln in 2012: Russia’s economy ministry

YEREVAN, March 18. /ARKA/.  Armenian-Russian trading turnover rose by 22.3% in 2012 from a year earlier to $1.2 billion, Russian official Andrey Tsemakhovich said.

Tsemakhovich is a deputy head of the department of economic cooperation and integration with the CIS at Russia’s ministry of economic development.

“It is the highest figure within the CIS. In 2012 imports from Armenia to Russia rose by record high of 43.6%. Trading turnover in January increased by 32.6%, which is also very optimistic, and import of the Armenian production to Russia –by 87.6,” he said Saturday at Economic Aspects of the Eurasian Integration and Armenia conference in Yerevan. 

Russian investments in Armenia climbed 5.2 times from 2007 to 2012, and Armenia is ranked third in attracting Russian investments, after Belarus and Ukraine, according to him.

“We succeeded to overcome the crisis peak faster than some other countries and rally our economic growth. The Armenian government’s work should be singled out here. Particularly, we can see it through the GDP growth rates in Armenia which were not only the highest in the CIS but also in the world. But here we should not  also underestimate the joint efforts of the Armenian-Russian interparliamentary commission,” he clarified.

Armenia posted 7.6% GDP growth in 2012 while an average growth within the CIS stood at 3.4%. 

Integration and Development organization organized “Economic aspects of the Eurasian integration and Armenia” conference in Yerevan. Economy Minister of Armenia Tigran Davtyan, scientists, analysts from Russia, Armenia and Belarus participated in the conference. -0-