YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian ministry of economic development and investments received preliminary applications from Russia, Iran and several European countries to carry out an activity in the Meghri Free Economic Zone which is expected to be put into operation in late November.

Vahagn Lalayan, head of the investment attraction and cooperation department at the ministry, told Armenpress that certain local companies are also ready to carry out an activity and create production capacities in the upcoming Meghri FEZ. “We have preliminary applications for the 20-30 hectares of land in the Meghri Free Economic Zone”, Vahagn Lalayan said.

He said from the moment when that idea came to create the FEZ, both the program and general description were distributed in different languages in the targeted countries, as well as in the Eurasian Economic Union’s territory. A preliminary application form has been prepared to understand in which spheres investments are possible. “Mainly the companies operating in agricultural products processing, services, tourism infrastructure, processing industry fields are interested in. These are the fields the production of which will be interesting to transport to Iran and vice versa, to establish a production of Iranian goods in Armenia and transport them to the EAEU or the European market”, he said.

As for the process of accepting the main applications, Vahagn Lalayan said the applications will be accepted immediately after the FEZ is put into operation. He added that the process of accepting and approving the applications has been simplified as much as possible and it will be possible to receive permission for conducting an activity in 15-20 days. “Theoretically it is possible that there will be already operating companies in the FEZ by the end of the year”, the ministry official said.

According to Vahagn Lalayan, the Meghri FEZ is one of the 8 free economic zones in the EAEU space which provides greater privileges than the others. “The privilege is that individuals can trade in certain quantities there and acquire goods with the so-called duty free regime”, Vahagn Lalayan noted.

As for the cooperation format with the Aras free economic zone operating in Iran, there are plans to develop new mechanisms later.

During the August 3, 2017 session the Armenian Government approved the decision to establish the Meghri Free Economic Zone CJSC which has been presented by the ministry of economic development and investments. At the moment two free economic zones, Alliance and Meridian, are operating in the territory of Armenia.