ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
 Thursday


MFA Deputy Minister: Large-scale construction of China`s diplomatic
representation in Armenia must be viewed in the context of China's
growing interest in Armenia and the whole region

Yerevan August 10

Naira Badalyan. The construction of new Chinese Embassy in Armenia,
which will become the second largest in the Eurasian region - after
Russia, is a sign of increasing interest of China in the South
Caucasus region. This opinion was expressed by the Deputy Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan in an interview with
journalists on August 10 after the meeting of the government.

According to Armenian MFA Deputy Minister, such large-scale
construction of diplomatic representation must be considered in the
context of the growing interest of China towards Armenia and the whole
region. "To say that China is a strong state, perhaps, to say nothing,
on the other hand, it is obviously the desire of this country to
further intensify the policy in the region," Shavarsh Kocharyan
stressed.

The day before, laying of the foundation of new building of Chinese
Embassy in Armenia was held in Yerevan. During the ceremony,
Ambassador Tian Erlong said that China intends to expand its presence
in Armenia. "Our cooperation is developing rather quickly, it requires
great efforts and large areas," the ambassador said. In turn,
Assistant Foreign Minister of China Li Huilai noted that the existing
building of the Chinese Embassy in Armenia has been in use since the
beginning of the 1990s, and today it can no longer satisfy the needs
of the dynamic development of bilateral relations between states. "The
new premises of the Chinese embassy with an area of about 40,000
square meters will become one of the largest embassies in Armenia,
which fully demonstrates the desire of the Chinese and Armenian sides
to develop broader and all-round cooperation with each other," Huilai
said.

The construction of the new embassy will be completed in 2 years, the
construction work will be carried out by Chinese and Armenian
specialists. Before the ceremony, at the meeting with the Assistant
Foreign Minister of China Edward Nalbandian noted that Armenia regards
relations with China as one of the imperatives of foreign policy.