President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Sargsyan, friends, it is a great pleasure to see you here in Moscow.
Armenia is Russia’s strategic partner in the Trans-Caucasus region, and we work consistently to develop our alliance in all, even the most sensitive, areas, and on the international stage, in particular in the CIS region, where we work together in the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organisation] and now in the Eurasian Union too.
I would like to congratulate you and say what a pleasure it is to see that over the year since Armenia joined the Eurasian Economic Union, your GDP has increased by 10 percent, as documents show. This is a very positive result, of course. I hope that this positive dynamic will continue.
We have many other bilateral matters to discuss, therefore I am very pleased to see you. Welcome!
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan: Thank you, Mr Putin.
I am very pleased to see you again. We have made it a tradition to meet at this time of the year to discuss the state of our alliance and exchange views on the most topical issues on the bilateral and regional agendas, and of course, examine the state of progress on our earlier agreements.
I am pleased to see that despite the regional and global economic difficulties, our bilateral trade has increased by 12 percent over the past six months and Armenian exports to Russia are up by 90 percent and have set a historic record over this period. Of course, the opportunities the Eurasian Economic Union offers have played a big part in this. This is very good to see.
Over this time, we have carried out an intensive programme of high-level visits and we have no serious problems in our bilateral relations. All issues that do come up are settled rapidly.
Mr Putin, I would like to express my personal gratitude for the efforts Russia makes in finding a diplomatic solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. It is absolutely crucial here to ensure that all agreements reached are implemented. We are ready to do this.
Thank you for that meeting, it was a pleasure.
Vladimir Putin: You know that we had to discuss this important and sensitive issue you just mentioned during my meeting with President of Azerbaijan Aliyev in Baku. We discussed the settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh. It will be my pleasure, of course, to brief you on the results of my meeting in Baku.
Serzh Sargsyan: Thank you.
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