Two products of Azerbaijani origin have entered Armenia—gasoline and diesel fuel—while there are no products of Armenian origin, but the sides have exchanged such lists: they provided us with a long list, and we provided them with ours, and the business environment, we believe, will respond over time. This was stated by Armenia’s Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan during his annual wrap-up press conference, addressing the question of what goods have been imported from Armenia to Azerbaijan during this period.
“The markets are still unfamiliar with each other—both our market for them and their market for us—and this requires time. This is a process that largely lies within the private sector,” he said.
“The state creates conditions through political agreements, the opening of roads, the operation of railways, and so on. We have now created a significant part of these conditions, but they have not yet been fully established. For example, there is still no direct railway communication, but you know well that work in that direction is underway, and in a few years it will be in place—I mean the launch of TRIPP. Until then, other instruments may also work, or direct road connections. Although we have opened [the roads], they are not yet using them to transport goods to the market and vice versa. So this is a process that is time-consuming and complex,” he said.
The Minister also noted that two years ago the discussion was about the possibility of war at any moment, whereas now the discussion has changed, which Papoyan considers already a very positive development.
“Two years ago, when I was appointed Minister, the main discussion was whether there would be an attack or not. Now the main discussion is about what goods can or cannot be sold, or by how much the price of gasoline has dropped or not.
The conversation from war to peace is already fantastic; the discussion about the benefits of peace is a very good discussion, and, naturally, we must add that we should gain as many benefits as possible,” the Minister said, emphasizing that the greatest result is that today the probability of war has approached zero, whereas two years ago it was very high.
