VLADIMIR PUTIN ON COOPERATION WITH ARMENIA

SKRIN Market & Corporate News
February 12, 2008 Tuesday

Talks with Armenian President Robert Kocharian were held by President
Putin on January 24, 2007 at Bocharov Ruchei, Sochi, the Kremlin.ru
website said.

PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN said: "Our first meeting this year with
the President of Armenia has just ended. As always, we had a frank
discussion of the whole range of our relations, but we paid greatest
attention today to the economic aspects of our cooperation.

This year we will celebrate 15 years since the establishment of
diplomatic relations between our countries and 10 years since the
conclusion of the basic Friendship and Cooperation Agreement between
Russia and Armenia. I am happy to say that as our two countries prepare
to mark these anniversaries, not only have our relations maintained
the potential of past years, but we have added considerably to our
bilateral ties in all areas and have strengthened our partnership
and the strategic nature of our cooperation.

Our discussions today focused above all on the development prospects
for our trade and economic ties.

We are happy overall with the stable growth in our bilateral trade over
these last years. It was up 40 percent in 2005, but over the first 11
months of 2006 it increased by a whole 70 percent. The final result
for 2006 could come to a figure of around half a billion dollars.

The energy sector remained the driving force behind our cooperation.

But other sectors, such as machine building, communications and
chemicals, were also prominent.

The efforts of just three Russian companies – Gazprom, RUSAL and
Vimpelcom – will almost double total investment in Armenia over
the coming months. Rosatom and Russian Railways could also launch
new projects.

On the subject of humanitarian cooperation, we assessed very highly
the results of the Year of Armenia in Russia that has just come to an
end. The more than 200 different events held throughout the country
as part of this programme gave Russians the chance to learn about
Armenia~Rs rich cultural heritage and modern achievements and have
given new impetus to developing business and public initiatives.

Our discussions also touched on a number of topical regional issues.

We will discuss, of course, the development of the CIS, the Collective
Security Treaty Organisation and the Eurasian Economic Community. We
will also talk separately about the Trans-Caucasus region overall. I
very much hope that during this year~Rs St Petersburg Economic Forum
we will be able to hold multilateral talks with our CIS colleagues on
economic cooperation issues above all, and I will inform the Armenian
President in more detail on this matter.

I would like to conclude by thanking my colleague for a genuinely
friendly and businesslike discussion. I am sure that today~Rs meeting
in Sochi will mark a significant step in developing the strategic
partnership between our two countries".