YEREVAN, June 16. / ARKA /. In an interview with CNN during a visit to Great Britain Armenian prime minister Tigran Sarkisian said Wednesday that Armenia Responses To Crisis By Economy Diversification And Business Environment Improvement.

“The first problem that we encountered after the economic contraction was that it was largely due to the fact that our economy was not sufficiently diversified.

Our crisis response focused on three areas: further diversification of the economy, improving the infrastructure and improving the business environment and we hope that with continued reform efforts we will be able to further boost the environment and overcome the consequences of the crisis,’ Armenian prime minister Tigran Sarkisian said Wednesday in an interview with CNN during a visit to Great Britain.

He also said that Armenia’s trade balance still remains significantly negative. Export promotion is still a primary objective for and exports are currently heavily reliant on three areas: mining, the IT and high-tech industry and tourism.

According to official statistics, Armenia's foreign trade in January-April of this year surged by 17.7% year-on-year to 583.5 billion drams in current prices (about $1.6 billion).

The volume of exports amounted to $373.4 million, increasing by 28.3% and imports increased to $1209.5 billion, rising by 10.9%. The negative foreign trade balance amounted to $ 836.1 million. –0--