Head of Armenian State Revenue Committee: No customs intrigues are made against Carrefour

• Wednesday, February 20, 21:47

 Carrefour, the French chain of hypermarkets, has no tax or customs problems to enter the Armenian market, Gagik Khachatryan, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee under the Government of Armenia, told journalists on Feb 20. 

He said that he is ready to discuss any problems emerging at the customs house when importing some goods. He pointed out that the problems of Carrefour concern other spheres having nothing to do with the customs system. He thinks that Carrefour will enter the Armenian market, as the Government has a positive attitude to that issue. Khachatryan added that Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan also said that.        

When asked about oligarch Samvel Alexanyan's possible attempts to hinder Carrefour's entry into the Armenian retail market, Khachatryan said that the issue of the French retailer's presence in Armenia is being discussed at the relevant structures.    

To note, according to the reliable sources of ArmInfo, the Carrefour hypermarket in Yerevan was to work on the basis of a franchise owned by a large U.A.E. developer Majid Al Futtaim Holding (MAF). "We are already working in 13 countries of the world. We have recently included several CIS countries in our portfolio, among them Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia", MAF Chief Executive Officer said to Russkiye Emiraty. The company has already opened its first Carrefour supermarket in Georgia and is going to open a store in Azerbaijan. To recall, at present MAF has already 45 supermarkets.

To note, by the number of its stores (over 15 thsd) Carrefour Group (France) holds the first position in Europe and the second position in the world. Carrefour hypermarkets' assortment includes up to 80,000 food and non-food items. The total staff consists of over 400 thsd people. Nothing has been said about the investments in the opening of the hypermarket in Yerevan, however, experts estimated the investments at 6-8 mln USD.    

By ArmInfo's data, Majid Al Futtaim Holding (U.A.E.), the Carrefour franchise holder, started to consider its possible entry into Armenian market a couple of years ago. Observers think that the opening of Carrefour in Armenia could have had a strong impact on the competitive environment in the sphere of organized retail trade, which is actually divided into 2 large networks owned by oligarch parliamentarians.