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According to the National Statistical Committee (NSC), Armenia’s foreign trade in the first 11 months of 2022 showed growth by 67.8% compared to the same time period in 2021 and attained $12.5 billion.
Only in November 2022, the country’s foreign trade grew up by 74.5% compared to November 2021, but compared to October 2022 it fell down by 2%. The foreign trade surpassed 5.3 trillion Armenian drams.
The amount of over $4.7 billion was attained by Armenian exports in 11 months of 2022, compared to January-November 2021, (up by 75.2%). Only in November 2022 alone, an increase by 95.8% compared to November 2021 was shown by the exports, but compared to October 2022, it was a decrease by 8.4%. The total exports in eleven months of 2022 surpassed 2 trillion drams.
An increase of 63.6% compared to January-November 2021 was attained by Armenian imports during the reporting period (over $7.7 billion). A 69.9% growth was reached by imports in November 2022 compared to November 2021 and 2.4% compared to October 2022. Total imports in January-November 2022 surpassed 3.32 trillion drams. ($1 – 393.81 drams).

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According to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, the need to diversify and develop new routes was agreed on by Central Asian countries on Tuesday, and they paid a “special attention” to the transport corridor involving Georgia, highlighting the importance of port, railway and other infrastructure for realizing the country’s role of a regional hub.
As Garibashvili noted in his end-of-year summary of the Government’s work, they announced the search for a new investor for the construction of the Anaklia deep sea port on the Black Sea coast. The state will own 51 percent of its infrastructure. These are “urgent” plans for international investment and state participation in Anaklia deep-sea port revealed by Georgian PM.
The current limitations of the Poti and Batumi ports were also noted by him. According to the Prime Minister, Government did not have “any leverage to make certain regulations in relation to tariffs or anything else”.
He added that record-high revenues were attained by the railway. Record-high levels were shown by both the amount and volume of the transported freight. The modernization of the railways needs to be quickly completed.
They had completed 86 percent of the work of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project. According to PM, they will officially launch the project in 2024, and passenger and good transport between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey will be facilitated.
The task of transforming the country “not only into an energy and transport hub, but also into a digital hub which will connect Europe to Asia” was highlighted by Garibashvili as one of his team’s “main interests”. According to him, the Rothschild global advisory company’s work on the strategy for transforming Georgia into a regional financial hub had been completed.
As Garibashvili said, the implementation of this strategy and plan will already be started next year, and the results will be reported later.
The creation of a new information technology hub in the former Parliament building in the western Georgian city of Kutaisi with the aim to promote the development of the IT sector in the country was also mentioned by the PM.
Garibashvili said that the hub would attract and employ young people working in the field of IT. He added that this project would support Georgian students and young people in their development. The project would get “tens of millions of dollars” of investments.

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The new law on supply chains will appear on January 1, 2023 in Germany. It will proscribe to all companies from Serbia, local or foreign, exporting raw materials, components, semi-products and services to the German market, to honor human rights and to prove that they are environmentally friendly. Companies which export finished products aren’t pertained to by this regulation.
According to Tanja Lindell, Deputy Manager in department for Industry at Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia (CCIS), German companies with over 3,000 employees will be primarily pertained to by the new law, and from January 1, 2024, it will start being applied to German companies with over a thousand employees.
Lindell says that German companies with their own activities are subject to this law. It is transferred to direct and indirect suppliers of semi-products and services in the production chain, that is, to all those companies which have supply agreements with companies over there. She mentions the lack of information about the number of companies this pertains to, due to ignoring what kind of agreements they have. Around 3,000 Serbian companies export to the German market, but a part of them exports finished products.
As Lindell says, those responsibilities and obligations from the law which the end-customer, the German partner, transfers to Serbian companies, will have to be met by them. Only what the German company must fulfill is defined by the law, and the contract will define which part of the obligations the German company transfers to its direct supplier. Companies are required by the law to make risk assessment, to carry out success analyses regularly, to respect human rights, to protect the environment and to publish reports which are public.
Lindell notes that the German law prepares companies for the EU directive which they have announced and which has already been preparing. It will be much stricter than the German law. An office for helping Serbian companies with the aim of informing them, as well as possible, and of helping them adapt the new law on supply chains will be opened by the CCIS in the first quarter of 2023.
According to Dragoljub Rajic of the Business Support Network, this regulation will not affect a large number of Serbian companies in the first year of the application. However, it will affect more companies beginning with the year after that, especially logistics companies which transport raw materials. The fact that German companies will not be able to work with companies which violate human rights in any way, which are involved in forced labor, or which have illegal employees will not affect Serbian exporters. Companies from Asia and Africa which participate in German supply chains are mostly pertained to by this.
Rajic explains that it will be more significant to prove that companies exporting raw materials or semi-products don’t pollute the environment through their business operations. The amount of carbon-dioxide emitted during their production or operating processes mustn’t exceed the level proscribed in Germany for the given industry. Serbian producers will have to replace diesel with other fuels in a certain percentage, or to use Euro 5 engines or to prove that the share in production is either at a minimum or zero. In the future hybrid trucks will have to start being bought by logistics companies, and the rail sector will have to be switched to hydrogen.
This has been initiated by Germany, but similar steps are being taken by France and Great Britain, and it will soon be an obligation at the EU level. The rail sector will be a great challenge for Serbia, as it is the greenest form of transport. Slow Serbian rail sector is not competitive. Due to this reason, entry of an Austrian cargo group to Serbian market has been announced.

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According to Trend, establishing new import rules are considered by Azerbaijan.
The amendment to the Customs Code, which was discussed at a meeting of the Parliament’s Committee on Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising on December 13, reflected this issue.
It proposes to review the appeal to the customs authority on the clearance of goods within one day. This amendment obliges the authority to notify the customs applicant within 24 hours from the moment the appeal was submitted to the body in case of cost adjustments for the passage of commodities.
The aim of the bill is to improve customs clearance procedures.

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As the Ministry of Finance announced on Tuesday, the project for the construction of a joint border crossing point between Georgia and Azerbaijan for further developing regional trade and transit has been discussed at the meeting between Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili and Shane Rosenthal, the Asian Development Bank Country Director for Georgia.
An agreement on establishing the crossing point on the border has already been signed by the two countries, and the aim of today’s meeting was to discuss ADB’s involvement, as both countries are member states of the Bank.
As Rosenthal said at the meeting, further development of infrastructure of border crossing points is a “logical continuation of the large road infrastructure projects already supported by the Asian Development Bank”.
According to the Country Director, the utilization of the transit potential between Georgia and Azerbaijan and the process of establishing the former country as a transit hub would be “significantly contributed” to by the checkpoint.
Traffic bridging between Georgia and Azerbaijan is being operated by the following checkpoints: Boyuk-Kasik in Azerbaijan and Gardabani in Georgia, Mazymgara in Azerbaijan and Tsodna in Georgia, Ipek Yolu in Azerbaijan and Abreshumis Gza in Georgia, Sadakhli Azerbaijan and Vakhtangisi in Georgia, Mughanli in Azerbaijan and Samtattskaro in Georgia, as well as the Red Bridge crossing between the two countries.

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A 43.5% increase was shown by Armenia – Iranian trade in the first 10 months of 2022. According to Armenian Deputy Economy Minister Armen Arzumanyan, it rose from $390 million to around $560 million in the reporting period.
Good business cooperation between the countries was noted by Arzumanyan. He also added that it was necessary for its further development to identify all issues in order to step up economic activity.
The Minister mentioned the extensiveness of the Iranian market, but also a problem of its self-sufficiency. He expressed his confidence in a possibility to find out what they could do to export Armenian food, agricultural and other products to this market, which is by and large familiar with Armenian produce.
Armenia’s National Statistical Committee reports that trade turnover between Armenia and Iran in January-October 2022 reached about $565.5 million (a 45.3% increase). Armenian exports to IRI totaled about $92 million (an 82.4% increase year-on-year). A growth by 39.1% (to $474.3 million) was attained by imports from Iran.

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According to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Lithuania is among 10 largest trade partners of the country in the EU and 20 largest trade partners in the world. As Kazinform correspondent reports, it was said on Tuesday during Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis’ official visit to Astana.
An important historic milestone – 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Lithuania – was marked by the visit. Minister Tileuberdi said that a trust-based dialogue at all levels instrumental in strengthening of constructive relations and mutually profitable cooperation in bilateral and multilateral formats has been sustained all these years by the countries.
According to Minister Tileuberdi, the spirit and principles of the Treaty between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Lithuania on mutual understanding and cooperation signed on November 7, 1993 in Almaty are fully kept during the development of relations between Astana and Vilnius.
The fact that Lithuania was one of the first countries in 2016 to ratify the EU-Kazakhstan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement underpinning Kazakhstan’s cooperation with EU member states in 29 areas was pointed out by the Kazakh Foreign Minister.
He also highlighted that disruptions in traditional logistics chains trade turnover between the two countries didn’t prevent it from achieving a 2.1fold increase ($500.4 million in 9 months of 2022). It makes Lithuania one of 10 largest trade partners of Kazakhstan in the EU. There are about 170 Lithuanian companies working in Kazakhstan and dozens companies with the Kazakh capital operating in Lithuania.
Joint work of Kazakhstan and Lithuania can be seen in many spheres: professional pilots’ training, medical equipment manufacturing and many others.
There is a hope for an additional impulse to strengthening of friendship and partnership between Kazakhstan and Lithuania given by Gabrielius Landsbergis’ visit to Astana.

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A working visit of Azerbaijan’s Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rashad Nabiyev to Brussels, the capital of Belgium has taken place.
A meeting between Rashad Nabiyev and European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean was organized during the visit.
Cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union in the field of transport, especially aviation, as well as the implementation of projects within the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) and adding the Zangazur corridor to these networks in the future were discussed at the meeting.
Issues related to holding the second meeting of the High Level Transport Dialogue in Baku were also mentioned.
A detailed information about the transport and digitalization projects implemented in Azerbaijan, including the importance of the Zangazur corridor and the work done in the liberated territories was given to European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean.
A great potential for cooperation around the Middle Corridor, a multimodal transport route passing through the South Caucasus and Central Asia was also noted. Certain opportunities for integrating the region into European and global supply chains will be opened by it.

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The declaration on the completion of the study on a free trade agreement was signed by Georgian deputy economy minister Genadi Arveladze and Gi Wook Young, director general on free trade agreements of Korea’s ministry of trade, industry and energy, earlier today in Seoul.
According to the ministry of economy, a positive impact of the deal on the economic welfare of both countries has been confirmed by a joint feasibility study on a free trade agreement between Georgia and South Korea.
The signing of the declaration on the completion of the study on a free trade agreement by Georgian deputy economy minister Genadi Arveladze and Gi Wook Young, director general of Korea’s ministry of trade, industry and energy, led to the conclusion.
Implementation of “relevant internal state procedures as soon as possible” to start negotiations on the actual agreement, with the first round of talks planned for 2023 was accepted by the both parties.
According to Georgia’s economy ministry, the Korean market of 50 million consumers “with high purchasing power” would be opened to Georgian exporting companies by the agreement.
Strengthening trade and economic relations between Georgia and the Republic of Korea will be boosted by the free trade agreement between the two countries. According to the state body, the expansion of trade and investment will be facilitated by the agreement and a comprehensive institutional framework for a wide range of bilateral cooperation will be provided.
Negotiations on an agreement on promotion and protection of investment between the countries were also held by Arveladze.

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According to the Armenian service of RFE/RL, the finance ministers of Armenia and Iran expressed their hope to further increase of economic exchanges between their countries, taking into account a recent growth in bilateral trade, during their meeting in Tehran.
The meeting between Armenia’s Finance Minister Tigran Khachatrian and Iran’s Minister of Economic and Financial Affairs Ehsan Khandozi took place in Tehran.
The main subject of the visit of Khachatrian and his delegation to Iran that took place one week after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian visited Tehran where he met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, was mainly regional security, but they also discussed prospects of increasing bilateral trade between the two neighboring countries.
According to Khachatrian, the volume of economic exchanges between the two countries is expected to grow by over 40 percent in 2022.
Several economic priorities between the two countries were highlighted by the Armenian and Iranian ministers, particularly, raising annual bilateral trade to $3 billion, increasing the goods exchange volume to 5 million tones, as well as the facilitating and developing financial, banking, commercial and customs relations.
According to the Armenian minister, they held productive and constructive discussions during his first-ever visit to Iran. “Constantly developing and strengthening cooperation” between Iran and Armenia was also highlighted by him.
Khachatrian said that the history of economic and political relations between Iran and Armenia has been lasting for decades. These main foundations are testified by the goal of raising the level of commercial relations between Armenia and Iran to $3 billion a year. This longstanding cooperation between the two countries is the basis of all ongoing negotiations.
The Iranian minister replied that “the government of Iran is very closely following the economic policy run by neighbor countries, putting the focus on the Caucasus region.”
Khandozi expressed his hope for the fulfillment of the goal of carrying out 3 billion dollars’ worth of trade between the countries, discussed during the meeting of the Iranian president and the Armenian prime minister, under the leadership of this government.
A meeting between Khachatrian and members of his delegation, including his deputy Avag Avanesian, and Iranian Vice President Masoud Mir Kazemi took place during the visit to Iran, and the meeting with Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Reza Fatemi Amin was planned.

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