Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan participated in the regular Eurasian Economic Council (EEC) session through a video-conference.
The agenda of the sitting included over thirty issues related to the development of integration processes within the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), the deepening of trade and economic relations between the member states.
The report on ‘’Mutual trade between the Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union in 2020″ was approved. According to the general assessment of mutual trade between the EEU member states presented in the report, in 2020 the share of mutual trade in the volume of overall foreign trade increased in almost all countries, amounting to 34.2% in the Republic of Armenia. According to the analysis of the mutual trade structure of the EEU member states presented in the report, Armenia has significantly increased the trade volumes of cooperative products. The issue of presenting the indicators in national currency was also discussed within the framework of the report.
Based on the results of the meeting, a decision was made on the joint forecasts for the supply and demand of agricultural products, food, jute fiber, raw leather, cotton fiber, wool, and the development of the agro-industrial complex in 2021-2022.
According to forecasts, in 2022, compared to 2019, the volume of agricultural production within the EEU (in dollar terms) will increase by 2.1%, mutual trade will increase by 15%, exports to third countries will increase by 9.3%, imports will decrease by 3.0%, as a result of which the negative balance of foreign trade will be reduced from $ 5.8 billion to $ 2.5 billion.
The members of the EEC Council, among other issues on the agenda, also discussed the issue of financing industrial cooperation in the Eurasian Economic Union. It was decided to develop mechanisms for financing cooperation projects with integration potential within the EEU. The implementation of the mentioned processes will give an opportunity to promote the growth of industrial production within the EEU, to solve the strategic issue of sustainable economic growth of the member states, as well as will be the basis for the creation of innovative products with high added value.
During the meeting, a decision was made on the general principles and approaches of ensuring food security of the EEU member states, which is aimed at increasing the level of domestic agricultural production in the EEU member states, reducing the risks of food shortages, as well as the substitution of the import of material and technical resources used in the agro-industrial complex.