ArmInfo.The ''Aras'' Free Economic Zone is Iran's only land gate to the countries of Eurasia, and the Norduz Bridge is the export highway to Eurasia. Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Gholamreza Ansari stated this during his visit to the Aras Free Economic Zone.
"Armenia is a very good opportunity for us. Given that the Aras FEZ has a unique position to expand trade relations with this country and the countries of Eurasia, we hope that the government will try to take advantage of this special opportunity," Ansari noted quoted by IRNA. At the same time, the Iranian diplomat expressed his conviction that the signing of an agreement on SEZs opened up new opportunities for Aras, especially in the field of export and currency exchange. In order to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the agreement on a free trade zone between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union in terms of exports, the diplomat suggested taking advantage of the experience gained in the operation of other free economic zones, especially in the field of hydroponic and greenhouse products. To recall, in August 2017, an agreement on cooperation in free trade zones was signed between Iran and Armenia.
According to the agreement, Iran and Armenia agreed to develop cooperation in the Iranian free trade zone "Aras" and the Armenian zone "Meghri". Initially, 2 projects for creating SEZ were considered - Syunik and Meghri, which was combined into one large free economic zone with an area of 10-15 hectares, with the possibility of subsequent expansion to 45-50 hectares. The main goal of creating a free economic zone was the development of trade and economic relations with Iran and other countries of the region, the development of the Syunik region, as well as the positioning of Armenia as a link connecting Iran with the EAEU countries and Georgia. It is assumed that 100-120 companies will operate there, the revenue of which for 10 years will be $ 52 million. The manufactured products are planned to be exported to Iran, the EAEU, the Middle East, Turkmenistan, etc.. Over the past 10 years, it is planned to bring the total investments of all companies to $ 350-400 million. The functioning of the SEZ is already enshrined in law in the EAEU Customs Code. In total, seven such zones will operate under the duty-free system in the EAEU.
However, at present, the activities of the Meghri Free Economic Zone are actually suspended due to criminal cases against local community leaders who used insider information and illegally privatized the land in the Free Economic Zone. As a result of these actions, there is no way to expand the area of the zone, and the cost of land proposed by the new owners has repeatedly exceeded the originally planned amount. The National Security Service of Armenia deals with this issue.
Yesterday, speaking in parliament, RA Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan noted that the customs and tax border begins with the border of the Meghri Free Economic Zone. That is, persons who entered this zone should be able to pay and carry out economic operations in foreign currency. According to him, if any enterprise operates in the FEZ "Meghri", then it should be considered not a resident for the Armenian side, both from the point of view of tax legislation, as well as currency and customs. "The EAEU regulations provide such an opportunity, and we must take full advantage of this," the Deputy Prime Minister noted, adding that after quite lengthy discussions with various government agencies, including the National Security Service, specific adjustments on this issue will be presented.