Armenian Prime Minister: "Russian investors underestimate the Armenian market"

The Armenian Prime Minister, Karen Karapetyan, stated at a meeting with Gleb Nikitin, the First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, that Russian companies still underestimate the Armenian market.

According to the Armenian PM, he could see some real prospects for the development of the Armenian-Russian cooperation, including in the industry field. When naming possible directions for cooperation (transport, aviation, pharmaceuticals, tourism, hospitality industry), the Armenian Premier particularly stressed the attractiveness of cooperating with Armenian companies in the IT sphere: “We have some organizations with branches operating in Silicon Valley, and not vice versa.”

Although the Russian capital is widely represented in Armenia, Karapetyan noted that the Armenian market is still underused by Russian companies, namely, in terms of access to a third set of markets like Iran and the EU. Also, the Meghri free economic zone and the GSP+ system with the European Union can greatly contribute to this process.

Commenting on PM Karapetyan’s proposal to Russian companies to regard Armenia as a platform for access to the major international markets, Hakob Badalyan, a political columnist, wrote as follows: “Karapetyan’s message also contained certain subtext. Against the background of international sanctions, the Russian companies have found themselves in a critical situation and Karen Karapetyan has actually proposed them to ‘bypass’ those sanctions via Armenia.”