The Center for Research of the Iranian Parliament has prepared a report on ‘Ways to Strengthen Economic Diplomacy between Armenia and Iran after the Karabakh Crisis’.
The report states that although Armenia's economy is small, its potential should not be overlooked, taking into account Iran’s stable and tense-free political relations with Armenia.
It is noted that the ban on Turkish goods in Armenia and cooperation within the EEU are a good opportunity to strengthen economic relations between Armenia and Iran. The authors of the report on the use of Armenian-Iranian trade and economic potential suggest signing a memorandum of cooperation for at least 20 years, which will create grounds for replacing Turkish goods with Iranian in Armenia.
The report says that against the background of Turkey-Azerbaijan ambitions to establish a corridor through Armenia, the strengthening of Armenian-Iranian economic relations and the growth of trade turnover will be a message to Baku and Ankara that the Armenian-Iranian border is very important for Iran.
According to Iranian experts, the Armenia-Iran Economic Cooperation Commission, the Iran Trade Development Organization, the Chamber of Commerce, the expansion of ties between free economic zones, the solution of banking system problems, etc., can make a great contribution to the development of Armenian-Iranian economic cooperation.
The authors of the report note that trade should not be one-sided and Iran should create an opportunity to import some goods from Armenia in order for Armenia to benefit, too. They emphasize that Armenia's economy is small, and imports cannot be large enough to harm local production. According to the authors, one should not forget that when Iran needed medical alcohol at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, it was imported from Armenia the first.
