ECONOMIC COOPERATION CONSIDERS ALL THE SPHERES
Gevorg Haroutyunyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
21 Oct 2008
Armenia

Yesterday morning, the Intergovernmental Committee on Economic
Cooperation between Armenia and Russia convened its 10th plenary
session in the conference hall of "Metropol" hotel.

IGOR LEVITIN, RF Minister of Transport and Co-Chair of the
Inter-Governmental Committee, underlined that, "The economic
cooperation between Armenia and Russia develops consistently. Although,
in 2008, the volumes of good circulation will exceed the sum of 1
billion dollars, we continue the progress and envisage more ambitious
programs.

The committee has studied a number of trends requiring an urgent
solution.

As a result, the problematic issues related to the operation of the
institutions, (particularly those which are considered the property of
Russia) dealing with the problems of energy, transport, humanitarian
issues and environmental conservation – problems that aroused heated
debates quite recently, have now found a solution. The Central Banks
of both countries are elaborating long-term effective programs."

At the end of the meeting, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and Igor
Levitin signed the protocol of the 10th session of the Armenian-Russian
Inter-Governmental Committee, and then, during the meeting with the
journalists, summed up the results.

Co-Chair of the Committee TIGRAN SARGSYAN considered it symbolic t hat
the 10th jubilee session of the inter-governmental cooperation had been
convened on the eve of RF President D. Medvedev’s visit to Armenia.

"The session was held in the traditional constructive atmosphere of
the mutual understanding. I am satisfied with the agreements achieved,
and I hope that they all will be successfully implemented in the near
future. I am sure that the high-level warm relations will foster
an equally effective and full cooperation in the private sector as
well. Our principal goal is to ensure a favorable atmosphere for
cooperation in all the possible spheres."

RF Minister of Transport Igor Levitin confirmed that the
inter-governmental committee had, over the past ten years, become
an effective tool assisting and supporting the private business
sector. "All our sessions are necessarily participated by the
representatives of the private business sector. It is due to their
assistance that we managed to consistently solve all the problems
which were difficult to settle on the inter-state level. We have even
managed to overcome the legal-contractual obstacles.

In particular, ‘Mars’ factory will be handed over to ‘Citronix’
company which has submitted a new production business-plan to the RA
Government or a free economic zone will be created.

If the submitted business plan is approved and adopted, the most
up-to-date high technologies will be imported.

As reg ards the prospect of building an oil refinery in Armenia,
I don’t think we are now facing the economic necessity of building
an enterprise with the project power of 5 million tons. First, it is
necessary to find the markets on which the production of this factory
can be realized".

Characterizing the volumes and spheres of the Armenian-Russian economic
cooperation, T. Sargsyan mentioned, "All the spheres of our life and
vital activity are within the frames of bilateral interests. There
is no sphere that slipped our attention. Today, we can state that
all the problems in the sphere of energy have been resolved, and we
now have the opportunity to create a new field of cooperation and
to extend it. We believe that before the end of the current year,
the law prohibiting bilateral taxations will enter into force.

There were also discussions over the Russian side’s participation
in the construction of the Iran-Armenia railway and the new nuclear
power plant.

The final decisions will be made when the expert groups study the
effectiveness of these projects and submit their conclusions."