18:14,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 31, ARMENPRESS. There are very good political relations between Armenia and Moldova, the countries have rich history of cultural, humanitarian ties. But the two countries have to level up economic relations and trade turnover, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said during the Eurasian Inter-Governmental Council session in Almaty in a meeting with Prime Minister of Moldova Ion Chicu.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia, PM Pashinyan said, “Honorable Mr. Prime Minister, I am very glad to meet you, and I want to once again congratulate you on being appointed Prime Minister of Moldova. Of course, there are very good political relations between Armenia and Moldova, the countries have rich history of cultural, humanitarian ties. But we cannot boast about the level of our trade and economic relations, for which there are both objective and subjective reasons. But I think we have to level up our economic relations and trade turnover, which is a solvable task in the 21st century and I am ready to make efforts in that direction. I emphasize particularly trade and economic relations, because I am confident that we have and will have no problems in other directions”.

The Prime Minister of Moldova said,

“I am thankful, Mr. Prime Minister, for your congratulations and warm wishes. We are really happy, since there are very good relations between our countries and peoples in cultural, humanitarian and other spheres. Of course, you are right and we have great potential for developing economic relations, since we both have advantages in a number of spheres where we can develop cooperation. I talked about that also in my speech. Moldova has free trade regime with the EU and given the activeness of Armenia’s representatives, I think we will be able to make a good use of that opportunity. In some areas we are represented in the same market, but, of course, we are not rivals. We can only say words of appraisal in the address of the Armenian cognac and other productions.

We also have very good relations in terms of reforms in various spheres, for example, in the sphere of state finances I had many interactions with the Ministry of Finance of your country when I was working at the World Bank, where progressive reforms were being implemented. I mean we can promote and give new impetus to our cooperation in various directions.

And of course, we are looking forward to your visit to the Republic of Moldova. Before my visit I spoke with Igor Nikolaevich Dodon and he conveyed warm greetings to you, saying that we are looking forward to your visit to Moldova.

I also think that we should resume the works of the intergovernmental commission, which is a good platform for discussing issues and the opportunities for the development of cooperation”.

The Prime Ministers of Armenia and Moldova also discussed a broad scope of issues referring to the development of economic relations.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan