ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
March 24, 2007 Saturday 07:04 AM EST

Moscow, Yerevan to sign new coop agreement

Moscow and Yerevan are going to further develop long-term
cooperation. They will sign a new agreement for the coming three
years on cooperation in urban development, economy, business,
culture, public health and education. Speaking at the opening of a
new Armenian Trade Centre, built within the framework of the previous
agreement in the central part of the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor
Yuri Luzhkov said that the relations between the two cities “are
durable and of long standing.”

“The opening of the Trade Centre is not the end of our cooperation.
It will be continued with the signing of another agreement for the
coming three years. This is the right way of developing relations,
which should cover the whole of the post-Soviet territory,” he said.

Luzhkov reminded that the Moscow House had been opened in Yerevan
last Friday. In his opinion, it is popular already among Yerevan
residents. “I am sure the Trade Centre will be equally popular among
Muscovites,” he added. According to Luzhkov, the Moscow House in
Yerevan and the Yerevan Trade Centre in Moscow are the two symbols of
the pooling of efforts for the purpose of jointly tackling trade,
economic and production problems, of consolidating relations in the
sphere of business, and of achieving mutual benefit.

Luzhkov said Moscow was interested in the import of food and consumer
goods from Armenia. “Armenia produces unique cheeses and cognac,
and, of course, quality footwear,” he explained. Yerevan Mayor
Ervand Zakharyan said, in his turn, that the new agreement would be
signed in the autumn of 2007.