Our special, partnering relations can be noted in many occasions – Putin says to Pashinyan

21:47, 6 June, 2019

YEREVAN, JUNE 6, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, who is in Russia's St. Petersburg city met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Konstantinovsky Palace, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Offic of the Prime Minister of Armenia.

''Honorable Nikol Vladimirovich, dear partners, friends,

I am very glad to welcome you once again, this time in St. Petersburg. I have no doubts that it will be interesting for you and I hope also useful for you to participate in the discussions of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. It is a very good platform for meeting with partners and discussing and exchanging views on economic issues, speaking about a range of issues of political nature. In my opinion we have a useful and serious event. I see no necessity to speak about our bilateral relations, since we do it regularly. Recently we met, discussed a lot of issues and had the opportunity to talk about everything.

I want to remind that Russia is the leading trade and economic partner of Armenia – 26%, nearly 2 billion USD investments and many other things that show the special and partnering nature of our relations», Vladimir Putin said.

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan said, ''I am thankful Vladimir Vladimirovich. I am very glad to meet you again in St. Petersburg. Last time we met in Nur-Sultan, while we first met a year ago and we had numerous meetings during this one year. In fact, we have talked about all the possible issues of our common agenda. I think our relations develop steadily.

As you mentioned, we have strategic, partnering relations and this for not only bilateral relations, but we also actively cooperate in the sidelines of the EAEU, CIS and CSTO and I think all these directions have strategic importance for our countries.  I am very glad we have the opportunity to comprehensively develop our relations in these directions.

I want to say that this year we have recorded quite optimistic economic indexes. We have recorded 7.1% economic growth by the results of the 1st quarter of the year. In April our index of economic activity amounted to 9.2%. Why am I talking about this? Because it's obvious that these are good indexes not only for Armenia, but also for the EAEU, because our economic indexes in many cases depend on our relations in the EAEU and the availableness of the Russian market for the Armenian business. This is very important.

 I hope we will be able to reach decisions over a number of issues that will not hinder this positive economic tendency. I want to say that we also have growth in the number of tourists this year who visit Armenia from Russia. And now everywhere in Armenia, be it the capital city or other touristic centers one can hear the Russian language. It's very peasant. When meeting them I always ask them how they feel in Armenia. I want to note with confidence that Russian tourists feel very good in Armenia. And it's obvious that more and more Russian tourists will vist our country. Thi is of course very pleasant, since I think it's not only an economic issue but is also about cultural and humanitarian links. Such interactions, in my opinion, foster our political and economic relations''.

During the meeting the interlocutors discussed the issues on the Armenian-Russian agenda. Particilarly, the sides discussed the future coopration in different spheres of the economy, the future activities of the inter-governmental commission. The sides highlighted high-level meetings.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan