FT: EU prepares urgent trade benefits for Armenia

The European Commission is urgently preparing a package of measures to boost trade with Armenia due to restrictions on exports of a number of goods to Russia, the Financial Times reports.

The newspaper writes that in Brussels "they are developing so-called autonomous trade measures that will reduce tariffs on Armenian food and agricultural exports." The measures, which require approval from a majority of EU member states and the European Parliament, will cover most of about 20 categories of goods worth about 420 million euros per year, the publication notes.

"But at the same time, a number of Armenian export products create problems for community officials. This concerns primarily cognac — one of the main Armenian export goods, given the importance of cognac production for France. It also concerns the difficulty of transporting perishable goods from a landlocked country through Turkey or Georgia," the publication writes.

Source: TASS