Ambassador: There are still congestions of heavy trucks at the Upper  Lars checkpoint due to technical reasons

ArmInfo. There are still congestions of heavy trucks at the Upper Lars checkpoint due to technical reasons. Ambassador of Armenia to Russia Vardan Toghanyan,  referring to how the closure of land communication with Russia  affected the transportation and what is the situation on the whole  today, stated this in an interview with the Lurer program of the  Public Television of Armenia.

According to him, this requires time, in addition to everything, the  previous agreements have changed dramatically: the conditions of  transportation, the inspection system, the ratio of the dollar,  rubles, drams, prices in Russian stores have not completely changed  and have not been coordinated with existing rates.

"That is, there are similar problems here, and they will remain,  because our producers are mainly credited in US dollars, and here  they are sold in Russian rubles. Another problem lies in not  essential goods. As for drinks and other goods of light industry,  jewelry industry, as you know, over the past couple of years we have  reached a record level of trade and economic growth of 29%. According  to the statistics of the last two weeks, which we get from the  Ministry of Economy of Russia, we can assume that there will be a  sharp decline in demand for these goods, "the diplomat said.

It should be noted that the annual growth in foreign trade between  Armenia and Russia in January- November 2019 slowed down to 12.6%  compared with 2081 13.5%, amounting to $ 1.98 billion. This was  triggered by a slowdown in export growth from 19.3% to 10.8%, while  import growth accelerated - from 10.6% to 13.6%, the volumes of which  amounted to $ 671.5 million and $ 1.3 billion, respectively.   According to the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia,  Russia holds the lead by a wide margin.