On 4th March, Iranian Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Reza Fatemi-Amin stated that his visit to Armenia is aimed at expanding bilateral trade ties through joint investments.

The Iranian minister is leading a high-ranking delegation that includes trade officials and heads of private companies. This is the first visit of senior Iranian officials to Armenia since President Ibrahim Raisi took office in August 2021.

Expanding trade diplomacy with regional states is high on the agenda of the new Iranian administration. Fatemi Amin has already made several trips to the Gulf states, including the UAE, Qatar, and Oman, to strengthen trade ties.

Implementation of trade agreements, facilitation of trade between the private sector of Iran and Armenia, cooperation in free zones, trade in goods, transport and customs are among the economic issues that will be discussed at the meetings between the officials of the two countries.

“Armenia, as a member state of the Eurasian Economic Union and a country neighbouring Iran, is of great importance. The economies of Iran and Armenia complement each other. We can export technologies in many industries to Armenia and import industrial know-how from Armenia,” the Iranian official said.

“One of the four main routes of the transport corridor passes through the Armenian territory. To this end, it is necessary to establish transport links between Iran and Armenia,” said Fatemi-Amin during his official visit to Yerevan.

Iran has already declared its readiness to cooperate with Armenia in the construction of a new transport route (Kajaran-Sisian road). The 64-kilometer route is part of the Iran-Armenia-Georgia transport corridor.

The North-South International Transport Corridor is a multi-mode network of sea, rail, and road routes with a length of 7200 kilometres for the movement of goods between Iran, India, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Armenia, Central Asia, and Europe.