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According to Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Armen Nurbekyan, Armenian economy growth continues at high rates.
As he said, presenting the annual report on the Central Bank’s activities at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on financial-credit and budgetary issues today, high external demand in the services sector, as well as by growth in the construction sector, largely facilitates this process.
Nurbekyan said that a significant increase in the number of foreign clients and financial flows in 2022 made the exchange rate of the Armenian national currency strengthen significantly in both nominal and real terms.
Nurbekyan highlighted that the rise in prices of imported goods starting from Q 3 2022 was substantially restrained by the Armenian dram’s strengthening, which manifested itself in parallel with growth in external demand.
The National Statistical Committee registered an increase by 12.2% of Armenia’s economic activity in January-March 2023 compared to January-March 2022.

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Various sectors of the economy has met New Zealand’s announcement of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United Kingdom with enthusiasm and anticipation. Economic ties are expected to be deepened and new avenues for trade to be opened between the two nations by the agreement that is set to take effect on May 31.
The NZ-UK FTA has been hailed by Export New Zealand, an organization representing exporters, as comprehensive and modern, with confidence in the strengthened economic relationship it will foster. The exceptional market access package achieved through the negotiations was highlighted by Josh Tan, Senior Policy Advisor at Export NZ.
According to him, 99.5 percent of current exports will enter the UK tariff-free, and the path will be cleared for 100 percent tariff elimination for NZ exporters by this agreement. He sees this development as a boon for British consumers who enjoy New Zealand products like sauvignon blanc and spring lamb. It will simultaneously benefit Kiwi exporters.
The positive impact of the FTA on bilateral trade was emphasized by Business NZ Chief Executive Kirk Hope. The amount of around six billion dollars annually was achieved by the two-way trade between New Zealand and the UK prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and experts expect the figure to rise with the implementation of the FTA.
A strong signal is sent to British investors by the agreement, affirming that New Zealand’s stability and transparency make it an attractive investment destination.
According to Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce, better access for Canterbury exporters to the UK market will be provided by the agreement. The benefits for primary sector and manufacturing businesses in the Canterbury region were also emphasized by Leeann Watson, CEO of the Chamber.
The reduction of export costs and levelling of the playing field, enhancing the competitiveness of New Zealand products in the UK market, are expected by FTA. A chapter in the agreement is dedicated to maximizing opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses, which are regarded as engines of growth in the local economy.
The early implementation of the FTA with the UK was welcomed by the horticulture industry, which has faced numerous challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gratitude to government officials for expediting the agreement, citing its potential to provide hope for the future and support industry growth, was expressed by Nadine Tunley, Chief Executive of Horticulture New Zealand.
The aim of increasing the industry’s value to $12 billion by 2035 unites the FTA and the Aotearoa Horticulture Action Plan. The elimination of tariffs and non-tariff barriers, making the FTA’s early adoption a significant step toward achieving these goals are included in the plan.
The FTA was celebrated by the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ) due to its positive impact on the dairy sector. According to Kimberly Crewther, Executive Director of DCANZ, complete duty-free entry into the UK market by 2028 will be achieved due to the agreement, and New Zealand exporters will be able to compete with their European counterparts on an equal footing.
Substantial potential for New Zealand dairy products is held by the UK, the world’s second-largest dairy import market. Opportunities for increased trade and market share will be created by the elimination of tariffs on various dairy products, including liquid milk, yogurt, and infant formula.
Market dynamics and commercial demand will regulate the actual level of trade, while the FTA’s entry into force marks a significant milestone for New Zealand’s trade with the UK. Nonetheless, a valuable platform for building stronger relationships with UK dairy customers and expanding export options for New Zealand’s dairy industry is provided by the agreement.
As this new chapter of free trade cooperation is embarked on by New Zealand and the United Kingdom, the mutual benefits and strengthened economic ties that lie ahead are anticipated both countries.

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NH Logistics took part in Retail Supply Chain & Logistics Expo, which was held on May 3-4 in Las Vegas. Designed to showcase emerging technologies and strategies in retail, the Retail Supply-Chain Logistics Expo in Las Vegas set its agenda to cover logistics networks, ecommerce, selling/supplying industries and much more. Co-located events, speaking engagements delivered … Read more

Over 250 leaders of large companies, holdings and industrial enterprises, banks, ministries, agencies and industry associations from Uzbekistan and Germany attended a joint business forum held in Berlin on May 2 this year on the eve of the visit of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sh.M.Mirziyoyev to the Federal Republic of Germany.
The active development of bilateral relations between Uzbekistan and Germany in recent years achieved dues to the trust and political will of the two countries was stressed by Jamshid Khodjaev, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, in his welcoming speech.
The double growth in mutual trade turnover over the past five years was noted by the sides. Another 50% growth of the indicators of bilateral trade was recorded at the end of 2022. It exceeded one billion euros for the first time.
They also observe consistent dynamics in investment cooperation and industrial partnership. A nearly threefold increase of the number of enterprises with German equity investment set up in Uzbekistan has been noted for a few years and it exceeded 200 units. An 11-fold growth of the total volume of German investments since 2017 made it exceed 4 billion euros. Business is already being done very successfully and new productions are being actively launched in Uzbekistan by many German companies, such as MAN, CLAAS, Knauf, GP Papenburg, Viessmann, Deutsche Kabel, LEMKEN.
Conditions created in Uzbekistan for comfortable work of foreign investors, as well as the strengths of the Uzbek economy drew the attention of German business circles. They particularly noted high human resource potential, strategic geographical position, free trade regimes with CIS countries, the GSP+ status, active efforts to join the World Trade Organization, rich resources of raw materials and direct support of the leadership and government in joint projects and initiatives.
Energy, chemical, food and textile industries, metallurgy, automotive industry, agriculture, production of building materials, electrical engineering, as well as pharmaceuticals and health care are the most promising areas for building long-term cooperation.
High appreciation of the results of economic reforms pursued in Uzbekistan, which have yielded, among other things, comfortable conditions for foreign investors working in the country, was given by representatives of German business circles. A firm commitment to step up cooperation and work out new joint projects was expressed by the sides.
B2B meetings and presentations of concrete cases and projects in various sectors of Uzbekistan’s economy continued the forum.

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Expected cost of the new draft Target Operating Model for importers is up to £400m a year
The cost of the UK’s final post-Brexit border checks for food importers are estimated by the government to be hundreds of millions of pounds, adding to upward pressure on inflation.
According to British officials, industry executives should expect that the new draft Target Operating Model, including proposals on how food and fresh produce from the EU is evaluated when it enters the country, will cost importers up to £400m a year. This information was given by two unidentified people at the meetings.
Lingering frictions in the trading relationship with the EU are highlighted by the estimate as final and much-delayed border checks on the bloc’s imports are rolled out by the UK from October. There are also efforts to smooth passport checks for British people visiting the EU and the arrangements at Northern Ireland’s land border taken by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government.
More misery on shoppers who are already suffering the worst cost-of-living crisis in generations and the fastest increase in grocery bills in more than 45 years will be piled by higher costs. The Bank of England, which is trying to reduce inflation, also has additional headaches.
According to Shane Brennan, CEO of the Cold Chain Federation, everything about this is massively inflationary on food costs. Brennan said he was unaware of the cost estimate, in spite of having been at one of the cabinet office meetings.
The £400m cost estimate was first reported by Politico.
The proposals for the UK’s final stage of post-Brexit border checks have been were made by Food industry officials to cut off these “significant” parts of the supply chain for restaurants and grocery stores.
A draft of its Target Operating Model on import controls was released by the UK government earlier in April. Checks affecting animal and plant imports, which will face different levels of scrutiny depending on the risk they’re judged to pose, are included in that.
Brennan said that the actual direct cost will be significant and, assuming there is a significant retraction of the businesses that are willing to supply the UK, then there’s a reduction in supply which will create inflationary pressure.
Executives were told by government officials at meetings that the cabinet office had organized by in recent weeks that the measures will cost £400m more than the current arrangements. Nevertheless, the published TOM documents report that new checks would reduce costs for businesses by £400m relative to its original post-Brexit import model.
According to a cabinet office spokesperson, exploration of the costs of implementing the new model engages industry in the proposals.
He said that a new world-class system to provide protection from security and biosecurity threats, while preventing delays at the border through a reduction in the need for physical checks and by ensuring that checks take place away from ports where this is needed to allow traffic to flow freely will be created by the new border rules.
The spokesperson added that any certificates or physical checks won’t be required for many low-risk goods, which will make their import easier than under the previously proposed model or the EU model.
The introduction of the final set of controls on EU imports was delayed by the government for a fourth time in April 2022. A promise to harness technology to smooth the new checks was given by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit opportunities minister at the time. Full checks on imports of British goods have already been imposed by the EU.
Many smaller EU importers were warned by industry bosses about too onerous measures, ramping up costs and threatening to damage supply to the supermarket shelves. According to one industry leader, the blow from the changes is likely to surpass the government’s expectations.
Significant proportions of the supply chain will be collapsed by veterinary control requirements on all medium risk goods, according to Brennan.
He said that these regulations concern anything that’s meat or dairy and major disruption is coming for anyone who is in the meat industry or for someone who wants to buy and trade product of animal origin.

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As the Armenian government’s report on the progress and results of the implementation of its plan of actions in 2022 announces, the trade turnover with the U.S. in 2022 more than doubled compared to the previous year to about $465 million.
An increase by 43.8% was shown by Armenia’s trade with EU member states, and the record high of almost 2 billion euros was achieved. Armenia’s exports to the EU showed an increase by 17.8% compared to 2021.
An increase of about 42% was achieved by Armenia’s trade with Iran. It grew up to about $711 million compared to about $503.5 million in 2021.
A growth to $879 million was shown by Armenia’s trade with Georgia (up from $422 million in 2021).
Armenia’s trade turnover with China increased by 39.4% from about $1.8 billion to $1.3 billion compared in the previous year.
The official statistics show that Armenia’s foreign trade in 2022 increased by 68.8% compared to 2021 and reached $14.1bln. The rise of Armenia’s exports was 77.7% while the increase of imports was 63.5%.

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A string of amendments to the law, which designates imported goods, which are not subject to excise duties and are exempted from value added tax, is approved today in the second and final reading by the Armenian parliament by a vote of 81 and 6 abstentions.
The amendments will make import of those raw materials, which are not produced in Armenia, exempted from value added tax (VAT) paid on the border.
According to Deputy Minister of Economy Armen Arzumanyan, currently a large number of enterprises import raw materials, which are not available in Armenia.
He said in parliament that given that the economic policy of the government is aimed at supporting local producers and increasing the efficiency of cash flow management by business entities, they plan to gradually shift taxation on imported raw materials and equipment from the border to the domestic economy.
As Arzumanyan said, gradual exemption of certain types of goods from VAT is called for by the amendments. He added that the country imported about $11 million worth of such goods in 2021, but they expect imports to increase after the approval of the amendments.
According to Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan, domestic chicken eggs for incubation; embryos, seminal fluid, seeds; products for the testing industry, including the processing of textile materials, leather, skins, etc.; also products necessary for the production of poultry and meat are included in the list of the goods to be exempted from VAT.

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The Armenian government’s report on the progress and results of the implementation of its plan of actions in 2022 announces that the country increased exports by 54.4% in 2022 and imports by 33.8%.
The amount of about 2.3 trillion (about $5.4 billion) drams was reached by Armenian exports and over 3.7 trillion (about $8.8 billion) drams by imports.
The National Statistical Committee announces the rise of exports by 77.7% from the year before, reaching $5 billion 360 million in January-December 2022.
A 5.7% decrease was shown by exports in December 2022 compared to November, but it was almost a 90.2% rise compared to December 2021. Exports in January-December 2022 reached about 2.3 trillion drams.
During the reporting period, imports increased by 63.5% compared to January-December 2021 and amounted to about $8.8 billion.
An increase by 1.6% compared to November was attained by imports in December 2022 and by 60.2% compared to December 2021. Counted in drams, imports in January-December 2022 surpassed 3.7 trillion drams ($1= 387.94 drams).

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An agreement was achieved between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to leverage the full capacity of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, also known as the Middle Corridor, which stretches from China to Europe covering Central Asia and South Caucasus.
They came to the agreement during Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Kazakhstan on Monday.
As Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a joint press briefing in Astana, it was important to fully utilize the capacity of the Middle Corridor with Azerbaijan, which is the Central Asian country’s Caspian Sea littoral neighbor.
He highlighted the particular importance of the full deployment of the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, or so-called Middle Corridor. According to Tokaev, the improvement of logistical services, the creation of unified transport operators, the modernization of technical and tariff conditions, the elimination of administrative barriers and the emergence of a closed logistical cycle was being talked about during the briefing published on President.Az.
He also said that it was important to implement the roadmap for the development of the Middle Corridor for 2022-2027 effectively. Hence, taking full advantage of the growing interest in this route and involvement of third countries in its infrastructure development were agreed about by Baku and Astana.
The simultaneous removal of bottlenecks and the development of the Middle Corridor over the five-year period by all participating states are provided by the roadmap for 2022-2027. Agreed principles of work, as well as specific projects with precise parameters, deadlines implementation and responsible executors are envisaged by the document. The implementation of the agreements will make it possible to increase the throughput capacity along the corridor up to 10 million tons per year by 2025.
An agreement was achieved by Presidents Aliyev and Tokayev in August 2022 to leverage the full potential of the Middle Corridor for contributing to the growth in bilateral trade turnover ($598 million currently after a four-fold increase since 2022).
Cooperation efforts between Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Türkiye were decided to be reinforced and regional connectivity through already available and new agreements was agreed to be strengthened by the foreign ministers of the three countries in June in Baku. A decision to capitalize on the potential of the Middle Corridor was also made.
According to President Aliyev, they were already implementing the decisions made in Baku in August of last year, including joint efforts on connecting the transport and logistical infrastructure of the countries in order to fully utilize the opportunities of the Middle Corridor.
As the Azerbaijani president said, referring to meetings in limited and expanded formats with Kazakh officials, specific figures and a schedule for increasing cargo transportation along the East-West route were discussed and tasks to the heads of relevant agencies to study all these issues in the near future were given.
Even bigger benefits to the landlocked countries in the region are promised by the main maritime points of the Middle Corridor (the Baku International Sea Trade Port (Azerbaijan), Aktau/Kuryk ports (Kazakhstan) and Turkmenbashi Port (Turkmenistan)).
It is estimated that in one year, 96 percent out of approximately 10 million containers that are transported from China to Europe, will utilize sea routes and only the remaining 4 percent will use the Trans-Siberian Railway, which is also called the Northern Corridor.
Compared to the Northern Corridor, the Middle Corridor is more economical and faster as a trade route between Europe and Asia, and the travel distance is shrunk by 2,000 kilometers and the travel time is shortened by 15 days compared to the sea route. Climate conditions of the Middle Corridor are also more favorable and great opportunities for cargo traffic in Asia are offered by it, so that the loads can reach the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean region by integrating the port connections in Türkiye.
Due to the Middle Corridor, South Caucasian and Central Asian countries are expected to get economic opportunities, enabling them to benefit from China-Europe trade, which is valued at $600 billion annually. The development and deepening of Trans-Caspian cooperation will be particularly facilitated by the establishment of logistical centers and free trade zones at the ports of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

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The work of a regular trade and economic mission of Kazakhstan’s commodity producers has been started in the capital of Azerbaijan. According to Kazinform, the aim of the mission is to boost business contacts between the two countries. The Ministry of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan and the Kazakh Embassy in Baku organized the event on the threshold of the visit of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Astana and the regular 19th session of the Intergovernmental Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation. Baku welcomed the representatives of more than 20 Kazakh companies arrived to the capital to showcase their goods and services to Azerbaijani partners. They have held talks since Tuesday. Interest in Kazakhstani companies’ products was shown by Azerbaijani companies. The Kazakh delegation was led by Vice Minister of Trade and Integration Kairat Torebayev. He said that Azerbaijan was one of the areas representing high trade and economic interest for Kazakhstan. Contracts worth at least 30 million US dollars are annually entered into by Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. For example, last year an increase by 40% was shown by commodity turnover between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, making it reach 262 million US dollars. A growth almost by 15% was registered in January-February 2023. Today’s event is being attended by 23 companies representing machine building, agriculture, light industry and chemical sectors. Kazakhstan is the place of operation of more than 1,170 companies with Azerbaijani capital today. In its turn, Azerbaijan is the territory where 45 Kazakhstani companies are operating. Mainly floating equipment, railroad locomotives, rails, batteries, petroleum products, wheat, rice etc are exported by Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan. A significant demand for wheat (26% increase), oil products (increased by 3.5 times), margarine (rose up by 4 times) and confectionery (87% growth) was seen this year. Centrifuges and pipes are bought by Kazakhstan from Azerbaijan. The two countries’ businesses were called by the Vice Minister to communicate more actively and enhance bilateral trade ties. He noted that they had over 20 tools of exporters support and they were ready to help each other. As Kairat Torebayev says, Azerbaijani trade house was opened in Kazakhstan. This case was proved to be successful. A similar trade house in Almaty should be open. An opportunity of opening Kazakhstani Trade House in Baku Alongside needs to be considered. According to Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan Serzhan Abdykarimov, Kazakhstan’s economy has been driven mainly by small and medium businesses. They implement new rules complying with international standards. As Abdykarimov says, Azerbaijan is a key trade and economic partner for Kazakhstan in the South Caucasian region. The political dialogue between the two countries is trustful and intensive. The investment and economic ties are strengthened by lifting of pandemic-related restrictions and launch of direct flights. A number of bilateral documents were signed by the business structures of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan and bilateral talks in B2B format were held after the mission. The event was attended by Chairman of Azerbaijan’s Small and Medium Business Development Agency Rufat Atakishiyev, Deputy Executive Director of the Export and Investments Promotion Agency of Azerbaijan (AZPROMO) Zohrab Gadirov and the representatives of KPMG and local businessmen. Establishing direct contacts, boosting trade relations between Kazakhstani enterprises and promising Azerbaijani importers, traders and distributors were the goals of the mission. As Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at the meeting with Azerbaijani President in August 2022, efforts should be taken by both countries’ governments to raise bilateral commodity turnover to 1 billion US dollars in the nearest outlook.

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