YEREVAN (Arka)—Georgia is ready to provide Armenia with a free transit corridor for exporting its goods to the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenian deputy economy minister Emil Tarasyan said Wednesday during a public discussion on Armenian exports to the Russia-led trade bloc organized by the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Armenia.

 

According to him, the issue on the transit of Armenian cargo through the territory of Georgia was included in the list of the main documents that Armenia signed with the Eurasian Economic Union, “because Armenia is the only country of the trade bloc that shares no common border with any of the bloc’s members.”

“Today we are working to secure an uninterrupted shipment of Armenian goods to the Eurasian Economic Union’s markets,” said Tarasyan, adding that Armenian goods will be exempted from customs checks at the border.

Armenia formally joined the Eurasian Economic Union on October 10. The agreement was signed by the heads of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia in Minsk, Belarus. The agreement on establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union comes into force in 2015.

Russia may open a “green corridor” for Armenian trucks at Upper Lars border crossing on its frontier with Georgia, Gagik Kocharyan, a senior official of the Armenian economy ministry, said.

The Upper Lars is the only overland conduit to the outside world for Armenian businesses. It is of utmost importance for Armenia, which is subjected to transportation blockade by Azerbaijan and Turkey.

According to Kocharyan, Armenian diplomats in Russia are discussing now the green corridor “issue with the Russian side.

In turn, the chairman of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Arsen Ghazaryan, said Armenian business people are facing problems now when going through the Upper Lars crossing because of the large number of trucks.

“Since Turkey did not join the Western sanctions against Russia, it has significantly increased its exports to the Russian Federation, carried out mainly by trucks. As a result, Armenian trucks have to stand in long lines at the checkpoint,” said Ghazaryan.