YEREVAN, JANUARY 30, NOYAN TAPAN. Negotiations are being conducted with the EU on signing the Enlarged Free Trade Agreement by Armenia. In this connection a EU fact-finding mission will visit Armenia on February 17-18 for preparing the documents to be signed after discussions with various deaprtments of Armenia. The RA deputy minister of economy Mushegh Tumasian said at the January 30 press conference that the process of joining the agreement is expected to be completed in 1-2 years. Armenia currently has interstate agreements on free trade regime with a number of countries, including Russia, the US, Canada, Japan. The main subject of the press conference was provision of the GSP+ trade regime to Armenia - among 16 other developing and underdeveloped countries, thanks to which Armenia received the opportunity to export the established 6,400 groups of commodities to the EU at zero or reduced customs duties - on condition that the exported commodities were made in Armenia. According to M. Tumasian, until 2009 Armenia made use of GSP system, by which customs duty privileges applied to about 2,000 commodities. As a result, in 2007 the amount of customs duties paid by Armenian exporters was less by about 120 million euros. The deputy minister said that the new system allows Armenian producers to expand their economic relations with the EU and save considerable sums which is more than important under conditions of the global financial-economic crisis. The EU is now among the biggest trade partners of Armenia: about 30% of Armenia's overall commodity turnover is with EU countries, with 50% of exports being directed to EU member states. In the opinion of the chairman of the Republican Union of Employers of Armenia Gagik Makarian, the above mentioned trade regime will contribute to an increase of exports and domestic production volumes and make our country more recognizable in international market.

---