Once the Azerbaijani gasoline comes at 430 drams, it sells out very quickly, the more we bring, the faster it sells out, as soon as Azerbaijani gasoline runs out, naturally the other gasoline goes up in price again. Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan told this to reporters at the National Assembly Wednesday—and in response to the question why gasoline prices were going up again in Armenia.

“The conclusion from this is that we need to bring a lot of Azerbaijani gasoline so that there is always plenty of cheap gasoline for our people. The more they bring, the more the prices will go down, and that is very logical. Before the entry of that product into Armenia, I saw regular gasoline for 500-520 drams [per liter]. Now, even if gasoline is 445 drams, but before it was 500 drams, the difference is still 55 drams. It was 520 drams, too; the difference is 75 drams. Sorry, 75 drams in every liter, 10 liters became 750 drams. A person saves 750 drams in every 10 liters, or more, because when it comes in large quantities, it becomes even cheaper on those days. Will that hit that person’s pocket? That money stays in Armenia,” added the minister of economy.

And when asked what Armenia will export to Azerbaijan, Papoyan replied: “There are discussions, Azerbaijan has given us a list of many products that it can export to Armenia, and we can [export] to them, but there are still no serious competitive advantages, so to speak. Of course, various types of cultural and psychological problems, etc., are also understandable, but this is a process that will happen, trade will happen. I am just sure that there is a potential of hundreds of millions of dollars in bilateral trade there, but it takes time.”

The Armenian minister of economy said that the import of fuel from Azerbaijan has already been left to businesses, since the process is already on track.

“They will transfer the money, we will receive the gasoline, we will sell [it] here at an affordable price,” Papoyan added.