“Armenia has significant potential, and we are pleased to witness its growing role as an important IT hub,” said Valery Safarian, president of the Belgian-Armenia Chamber of Commerce, in an interview with Aravot.am. Armenia and Belgium are enhancing their collaboration in the areas of artificial intelligence and innovation. Recently, the Belgian Embassy in Armenia hosted a networking event of Armenian and Belgian representatives from innovative organizations, academia, and businesses to further strengthen these connections.
– For a year, efforts have been made to create Armenian-Belgian economic ties. What are the results?
– Those efforts are being made more than 1 year, at least last 20 years, as soon as we have founded the Belgian-Armenian chamber of Commerce in 2005, and they are starting to show promising results. Over past 20 years BACC organized different visits of more than 200 companies to Armenia. We have witnessed growing interest from Belgian companies in exploring investment opportunities in Armenia. However, since one year, the opening of Belgian Embassy in Armenia was game a changer. We were privileged to see a very motivated Ambassador of Belgium Erick de Muynck who has strong ambitions related to trade dynamic between Armenia and Belgium.
This year is the first time when we could work on a common project with the Embassy focusing on one particular sector being ICT which is different from the previous missions we made, that always were multisectoral and we believe it will improve the outcome of the mission.
Together with the Embassy we made the Belgian delegation of businessmen and speakers for WCIT one of the biggest representation.
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Armenia has a huge potential, and we are happy to see how the country is becoming a more significant IT hub.
– What sectors are Belgian businessmen interested in Armenia?
-Belgian businessmen have shown significant interest in several key sectors of the Armenian economy. Information Technology (IT) and innovation-related fields are particularly attractive due to Armenia’s growing reputation as a tech hub in the region. Belgian investors are also interested in renewable energy projects, especially solar and wind energy, as Armenia has substantial potential in this area. Agriculture and agri-business, particularly organic farming and wine production, have also caught the attention of Belgian companies due to Armenia’s favorable climate and growing agricultural sector. Additionally, the tourism and hospitality industries are increasingly seen as areas where Belgian entrepreneurs can contribute and benefit from with the support of direct flies of from Belgium to Armenia operated by Brussels airlines.
The cooperation with Belgium makes the European market and technologies accessible to Armenian companies, especially in cybersecurity and data protection.
It’s important also to emphasize that if Armenian companies wants to penetrate to the EU market, Belgium is definitely the best hub to establish themselves with a subsidiary or finding a local partner and this for many reasons. For example, Belgium, with a turnover of 35 billion euro the ICT sector contributes 10% of GDP per year, which is a significant market share. It is also at the top while speaking about GDPR and DORA regulations which are preliminary obligations to participate in any public tender or being subcontractor using private data of European citizens. We could have much more about that.
– Is the fact that Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Union an obstacle or a help for the development of Armenian-Belgian economic ties?
– Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Union (EAEU) presents a complex landscape for the development of Armenian-Belgian economic ties, particularly in light of the current geopolitical situation. On one hand, Armenia’s alignment with the EAEU offers access to a significant market within the member states, which can create opportunities for Belgian businesses seeking to expand into this region. This can be particularly advantageous in sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, and logistics, where Belgium can leverage its expertise and technology.
But current relation between EU and Russia/Belarus do not allow us to promote such kind of markets prospections. Additionally, to that Armenia has no any direct border with other members with (EAEU). As a conclusion this is not an argument that the BACC is promoting.
Nelli Grigoryan
