Distinguished Mr. Minister,

Dear businessmen,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I warmly welcome all the participants of the already traditional Armenian-Iranian business forum.

This kind of forums are an important platform for representatives of the official and business circles of the two countries to discuss the existing opportunities and issues in the bilateral trade-economic sphere, and to determine the steps to be taken to boost the cooperation between our countries.

I hope this forum will help the Iranian business circles to discover the investment opportunities of Armenia.

Dear businessmen,

Today, favorable conditions are set up in Armenia, which allow to make profitable investments and successfully conduct business. Reforms in Armenia are aimed at establishing national and more favorable regimes, clarifying guarantees for foreign investors, providing the opportunities for businessmen to use the existing in Armenia and envisaged supplementary benefits and modern mechanisms for resolving investment related disputes; a number of procedures are consistently being reduced and simplified.

One of the advantages of investing in Armenia is that our country has a privileged trade regimes with many countries. Particularly, Armenia's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union has created new opportunities. The products produced in Armenia can freely enter the 180 million-strong consumer market of the Eurasian Economic Union member states with zero customs duties and without administrative barriers. Besides, our country has free trade agreements with almost all CIS countries. Armenia also benefits from the "Generalized Systems of Preferences GSP" of the US, Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Norway, as well as the "GSP + Generalized Scheme of Preferences" provided by the European Union.

Armenia, being the only EAEU member state that has a land border with friendly Iran, can be a gateway to accessing EU and CIS countries. In this regard, we highlight the significance of the North-South Road Corridor, which is at the stage of implementation and which is the shortest transit route connecting Persian Gulf ports to the Black Sea ports.

Armenia actively supports the negotiation process between the Eurasian Economic Commission and friendly Iran aimed at signing a free trade zone agreement.

On March 30, 2017, the Government of Armenia passed a decision on establishing a free economic zone in Syunik - at the border with Iran, the launch of which would promote the strengthening of economic ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran and the most efficient use of Armenia's economic potential. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the relevant authorities of the two countries aimed at defining the main directions of cooperation between Armenia and Iran in the sphere of free economic zones, establishing contacts between companies operating in the free economic zone "Meghri" and in the free economic zone "Aras", as well as governing bodies.

Dear participants,

I hope that this forum will contribute to outlining the opportunities and the best formats for economic cooperation of our countries.

I wish a productive work to the participants of the Forum.

Thank you.