In case of low customs duties for imports, Iranian manufacturers of certain Armenian products will remove those products from the market. This is what Deputy of the ruling My Step Alliance Varazdat Karapetyan said during a discussion on ratification of the agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Iran during the session of the National Assembly.

The MP stated that alabaster, better yet, products made from alabaster, is one of the products under threat. “Is it possible for Armenia to set an additional customs duty for a particular Iranian product, but right after it imports the product directly from Iran?” the MP asked.

Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments Albert Babayan, who was the main speaker, said the agreement definitely allows Armenia to take advantage of such tools, if the products imported from Iran start becoming a reason to push Armenian manufacturers out of the market. “This principle also refers to other parties to the given agreement,” the deputy minister clarified.