Invest in Armenia

Multilateral and bilateral treaties

Armenia is a growing market offering promi- sing business opportunities to traders and investors. Trade agreements signed by Armenia which promote and protect recipro-cal investments are among the key attractions of the business and investment environment.

Table 4. The list of countries having bilateral investment treaties for the promotion and protection of foreign investments with Armenia (as of 15.02.2012)

Armenia has signed bilateral treaties on reciprocal promotion and protection of investments with 39 countries (see table 4), and is currently negotiating more such treaties with an additional 24 countries. Armenia is also a signatory of the International Convention on Investment Disputes. In addition, it has double taxation treaties with 35 countries as of 2012 (see table 5). The benefts of these particular treaties are easy to access by providing supporting documentation of residency from foreign tax authorities.

Table 5. The list of countries having Double taxation treaties with Armenia and the summary of withholding rates under the various treaties

The treaty generally applies automatically when a local company holds an appropriate residency certifcate issued by foreign tax authorities.Armenia is actively involved in the regional trade integration process. The country has signed free-trade agreements with Georgia and most of the CIS countries, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine. Armenia is a signatory to the CIS Multilateral Convention on the Protection of Investor Rights and the CIS free trade zone agreement, which is designed to reduce all trade fees on a number of goods between the countries involved.Armenia has full membership status in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Armenia is also a member of a number of international organizations including IMF, WHO, World Bank, IDA, UNECE, EBRD, BSEC, WCO, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, IFAD, UNIDO, ILO, WIPO, INTERPOL, ITU, IAEA, ISO and others. Currently Armenia is actively involved in negotiations with the EU on an Association Agreement which will include the establishment of a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA).