RUSSIA, ARMENIA SEEK BROADER TIES – PUTIN
Interfax
Dec 5 2008
Russia
Russia and Armenia plan to take measures to bolster their bilateral
cooperation, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said ahead of
talks with his Armenian counterpart Tigran Sargsyan on Friday.
"The results we have achieved [in our cooperation] are far from being
the limit for our countries. We plan to increase our cooperation,"
Putin said.
The overall amount of Russia’s accumulated investment in the Armenian
economy totals $1.6 billion, and bilateral trade grew by nearly 17%
in 2007, he said.
"I believe it is quite useful to expand the Armenia-based operations
of major Russian companies like Gazprom, Inter RAO UES, RZHD and some
banks, including VTB," the Russian prime minister said.
Joint projects in areas such as the fuel and energy sector, non-
ferrous metals, transport, construction, and information technologies
hold great promise, Putin said.
Armenia and Russia have a strategic relationship, Prime Minister
Sargsyan said. Such consultations are important and useful amid the
ongoing global financial crisis, he said.
"We should coordinate our efforts, which will obviously make it easier
for us to deal with the difficulties facing our economies today,"
the Armenian official said.