Yerevan not aiming at severing relations with Russia, EAEU, nor  missing chance with EU - Nikol Pashinyan

ArmInfo. Yerevan does not set the task of reducing the volume of trade turnover or breaking  economic ties with Russia and the EAEU. Armenia's task is to increase trade turnover with the EU countries. This was stated by the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on September 18 at the Second  World Armenian Summit.

According to him, the trade turnover of the Republic of Armenia with  the EAEU is consistently increasing and this is not surprising, since  the Republic of Armenia is a member of the EAEU. And, therefore, for  the Armenian producer and exporter, the Union market is more  accessible than other markets.

At the same time, the Prime Minister pointed out, the country's  authorities are aimed at diversifying economic ties, in particular,  in the direction of increasing the accessibility of the EU markets  for the Armenian exporter. <At the same time, it should be understood  that this is a certain process, and for its implementation, the RA  authorities are also working with the EU and the USA>, Pashinyan  noted.

At the same time, the head of the Armenian Cabinet emphasized that if  Armenia sees <the slightest opportunity to join the EU> and  understands that it can <manage the potential risks associated with  this>, it will certainly take advantage of this chance.

According to the data of the RA Statistical Committee for  January-July 2024, the foreign trade turnover between Armenia and the  Russian Federation amounted to $9.1 billion, having increased by 2.4  times year- on-year. With the EAEU countries, the figure reached $9.2  billion (45.2% of the total), with an annual growth of 2.3 times, and  through the EU, the figure was $1.3 billion (6.3% of the total), with  an annual decline of 21.4%. In total, Armenia's foreign trade  turnover for January-July 2024 exceeded $20.4 billion, with an annual  growth of 95%. 

Recently, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexey  Overchuk said in Yerevan that in 2023, mutual trade between Russia  and Armenia grew by 55.8%, to $7.4 billion. <This year, growth has  accelerated. In the first half of this year alone, trade between our  countries amounted to $8.4 billion. We may well reach $14-16 billion  by the end of the year. In 2020, we had $2.3 billion>, - said  Overchuk. He noted that the positive dynamics in the growth of the  Armenian economy are contributed by the relations that have developed  between the countries within the EAEU. Since the country joined the  Union in 2015, Armenia's GDP per capita has grown 2.3 times.