Iranian diplomat: Armenia is a very good opportunity for us

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.