Avag Avanesyan – deputy minister of economic development and investments, gave an interview to ARMENPRESS talking about Armenia’s 2018 achievements and upcoming actions for 2019.
-Mr. Avanesyan, what are the functions of the World Trade Organization, and when did Armenia join the WTO?
-Armenia joined the WTO in February 2003. The WTO is a combination of factual countries which regulates the international trade relations. One of the key tools of the Organization is the Trade policy review. This is used for all member states to be informed about each other’s trade policy developments. During this period Armenia has passed two reviews, the last one was held just few days ago.
-When did the process of the 2nd review begin and what course did it have?
-The review process launched in October 2017. During this period the WTO secretariat’s delegation visited Armenia two times within the frames of which nearly 50 meetings have taken place with the representatives of different agencies, about 26 agencies were involved in the process. The process has been summed up during presentations on November 20-22.The presentations are being held with the following procedures: a presentation is being held on the first day during which the WTO secretariat presents its report on Armenia’s trade policy, then we present the country’s trade policy from the government’s perspective what developments we expect and what are our principles in the trade policy field. And of course, on the same day the countries react and present their questions. The second and third days are already dedicated to responding to the questions. In this case more than 10 countries have presented their questions in advance, in other words we have received all questions in early October. 120 issues were received from 11 countries. This is welcomed, this means that there is a certain interest towards Armenia as a trade partner.
-What is the reason of such interest towards Armenia?
-There are several reasons. First of all, Armenia has always been WTO’s “high achiever”, we have always tried to strictly maintain the notification deadlines. Secondly, Armenia at this moment is in an interesting period. Our country has repeatedly announced that it will transition to an economic policy directed to export. This interest was also seen in early 2018, and the recent developments outlined the interest of several countries towards Armenia as a trade partner and a country in general. Because we have received question...
