RUSSIAN PM VISITS ARMENIA
By Anna Saghabalian

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Feb 6 2008

Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov held talks with Armenia’s leaders
on Wednesday during an official visit to Yerevan which officials said
focused on ways of boosting economic ties between their nations.

Some commentators had suggested that Zubkov will use the trip,
the second in less than six months, to explicitly or implicitly
express the Kremlin’s support for his Armenian counterpart Serzh
Sarkisian’s victory in the upcoming presidential election. However,
the two prime ministers made no mention of the vote as they held a
joint news conference after the talks, speaking instead about the
need to boost Russian-Armenian trade.

Sarkisian skirted a Russian journalist’s question about the possible
impact of the Armenian election as well as Russia’s own presidential
ballot due in March on bilateral relations. "Armenia is connected to
Russia by a thousand threads," he said. "It is beneficial for Armenia
to be friends with Russia. And Russian capital feels comfortable in
Armenia," he said. "Our relations must get even better and stronger
in the future," he added.

President Robert Kocharian also noted "brilliant prospects" for the
development of the Russian-Armenian relationship at a separate meeting
with Zubkov. Kocharian was also quoted by his office as praising
Russia’s growing economic presence in his country.

Both Sarkisian and Zubkov stressed the fact that the volume of
Russian-Armenian trade soared by 65 percent to about $700 million
last year and may well pass the $1 billion mark this year. "We agreed
that the most important problem [in bilateral trade] is transport,"
said the Armenian premier.

Zubkov pointed in that regard to the launch in April 2007 of a
rail-ferry service between Georgian and Russian Black Sea of ports
which mainly caters for cargos shipped to and from Armenia. He said
the service will be expanded and "will literally enrich our commercial
links" in 2008. In particular, Armenia will be able to significantly
increase exports of cement and other construction materials to Russia,
he added.

Zubkov’s visit also resulted in the signing of several bilateral
agreements. One of them envisages a joint exploration and development
of Armenia’s uranium reserves. In a separate statement, the two
governments also pledged to make joint efforts to improve the safety
of the nuclear power plant at Metsamor.