An Iranian trade centre opened in Yerevan on Monday. The event was attended by Armenian Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan, Iranian Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Seyed Mohammad Atabak, Iranian Ambassador to Armenia Mehdi Sobhani, high-ranking officials and businessmen from IRI.
As Ambassador Sobhani noted, the opening of the centre testifies to the friendly relations between Iran and Armenia.
‘The volume of trade turnover between Armenia and Iran has recorded a leapfrog growth. I hope that this centre will give a new big impetus to the trade and economic relations between the two countries. The relations between Armenia and Iran are multilateral and cooperation between the two countries in the areas of trade, economy, energy, transport and infrastructures will create very serious capital for the two nations and states,’ Sobhani noted.
He said the leaders of the two countries have a strong political will to promote co-operation. ‘The leaders of our countries have set the (planned) threshold of $3bn trade turnover volume and we should do everything to achieve this indicator,’ Sobhani said.
In turn, Armenian Minister Papoyan expressed hope that a similar trade centre will soon be opened in Tehran. He noted a sharp increase in trade turnover between Armenia and Iran, the size of which exceeded $700 million according to last year's figures.
‘We aim to raise this figure to $1 billion in the near future, and later to $3 billion. Iran is not just a neighbour for Armenia, but a friendly country with close trade-economic and political relations between them. Our peoples know each other very well, have a warm attitude towards each other. There is a huge undiscovered potential for the development of economic relations,’ Papoyan noted.
He pointed out that the Armenian government is interested in attracting more Iranian companies to the country and bringing the relations to an even higher level.
Iranian Minister Atabak stressed that the opening of the Iranian trade centre in Armenia will give a new level to the relations between the two countries.
