Alina Hovhannisyan. Armenia and the Netherlands are considering the possibility of implementing joint programs in the field of milk and dairy products. This was announced on June 7 during a meeting of RA Minister of Agriculture Artur Khachatryan and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Johannes Dauman.

According to the press service of the Ministry of Agriculture, in this regard, the parties stressed the importance of forming integrated pricing in this area, ensuring high quality of milk, improving nutrition and ensuring the health of animals with milk production, as well as diversifying dairy products. In addition, the minister suggested discussing the possibility of implementing joint programs in the sphere of greenhouses.

During the meeting, the participants also touched upon issues related to the development of agricultural cooperatives, improvement of consulting services for farmers, the possibility of attracting Dutch investments to the agricultural sector of Armenia.

According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, the production of milk in 2017 was 461.8 million liters with annual growth of 0.4%. At the same time, according to the RA Customs Service, during the reporting year, Armenia increased export of milk, cream, condensed milk and milk powder by up to 852 tons, with a significant increase in customs value to $ 2.7 million. Imports increased by 66.5% to 7.2 tons, with the increase in customs value by 98.9% to $ 16.7 million.