“ArmenTel” requires investment climate improvement and increase of transparency in customs sphere

Yerevan/Mediamax/. “ArmenTel” CJSC Director General Igor Klimko is concerned about the prospect of appearance of new administrative barriers for making business in Armenia.

Igor Klimko said this at the First Armenian-Russian Interregional Forum in Yerevan today, Mediamax reports.

“The current normative base in Armenia is on the whole favorable for attracting foreign investments. The Armenian state has always been concerned about the problems of the business and positively reacts to its requirements. It can be proved by the initiatives of the Armenian government in the sphere of simplification of license rules and use of national resources,” he said.

At the same time, Igor Klimko noted, new administrative barriers may appear after the coming into force of the law “On purchases” and adoption of the new edition of the law “On protection of economic competition”.

“We believe that there are numerous shortcomings and mistakes in these laws, which could have been avoided if the draft laws have been discussed with representatives of the business, which will be directly influenced by change of the legislation. Highlighting positive shifts in the sphere of goods import for making business in Armenia, I would like to draw your attention to some problematic aspects in terms of implementation of some customs procedures.

Despite the modernization of customs infrastructure, customs clearance procedures need to be further simplified, transparency and predictability should be increased. For example, the distrust of customs bodies towards the customs value of declared goods imported by big service providers, as well as the lack of fixed terms of custom clearance and responsibility of custom authorities for the violation of these terms. As far as the state and the society are interested in the business, the company leadership and the investor expect the state and the society to perceive the company as their partner, to support business development and strive to back the investor’s interest in making business in Armenia.

Taking all this into account, “ArmenTel” CJSC and “VimpelCom” OJSC raise problematic issues and suggest to fix in protocol documents of the Forum the proposals regarding the improvement of cooperation between state bodies and representatives of the business aimed at the improvement of the commercial legislation and the investment climate, as well as to elaborate a framework for this cooperation and provide guarantees for its efficiency,” Igor Klimko stated.