WTO: CONTINUED REFORM AND DIVERSIFICATION OF THE ECONOMY ARE KEY TO ECONOMIC GROWTH

The Financial
April 9 2010
Georgia

The FINANCIAL — Armenia’s accession to the WTO in 2003 consolidated
a process of trade liberalization and institutional reforms that
started soon after independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

This process has continued since accession and Armenia has now a
liberal trade and investment regime, according to a WTO Secretariat
report on the trade policies and practices of Armenia.

Economic stability, along with foreign remittances and investment
from the large Armenian diaspora, led to high levels of economic
growth up until the global financial crises hit Armenia in 2009 and
produced a sharp drop in economic activity.

The report says that continued efforts to improve implementation of
institutional and regulatory reforms and to develop a more diversified
economy are key to Armenia’s future economic growth.

The report, along with a policy statement by the Government of Armenia,
is the basis for the first Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Armenia by
the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 6 and 8 April 2010.