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President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan: Mr Putin, colleagues,
Once more, I wish you a warm welcome to Yerevan. We are pleased that this state visit to Armenia is taking place. It has historic importance for continuing to strengthen the strategic partnership between our countries.
Consistent development of relations with Russia is an integral and distinctive part of Armenia’s policy. This is the objective we pursue in our constant exchanges on a broad range of issues.
Our bilateral cooperation mechanisms are functioning without interruption. The Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation recently held its fifteenth meeting in St Petersburg, and the Inter-parliamentary Commission and Bilateral Intergovernmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation met in Yerevan in November.
Much depends on our combined efforts, and we are doing all we can to build on the positive results we have achieved over recent years. It is enough to say that our bilateral trade increased by 20.3 percent last year compared to 2011. It is very pleasing to see that we have achieved even faster growth over the first 9 months of 2013, and that Armenia’s exports are up by 25 percent. This is of course a very good thing for us.
This shows that our trade and economic cooperation is moving ahead at a very good pace. Most important of all is that we have taken big steps in just a short time, including as regards Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union and take part in building the Eurasian Economic Union, which will enable us to take our relations to a completely new level.
Mr Putin, during our meeting just before I thanked you for taking decisions that will help to support Armenia’s economy and help us to develop our different sectors at a good pace. Now, with our colleagues here, I want to thank you again and say that the signing of these agreements settles many sensitive issues.
Thank you very much. I am happy to welcome you to Armenia.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much, Mr Sargsyan. Thank you for the invitation.
It remains for me only to add that over the first 9 months of 2013 our bilateral trade reached a figure of almost $1 billion. Our statistics give a figure of $900 million. We will clearly surpass last year’s result.
Russia is still Armenia’s biggest trade and economic partner in terms of bilateral trade and in terms of investment. Many companies are working here, joint companies, and also fully Russian-owned companies.
We want to thank you for the fact that the Armenian government has created good conditions for Russian investment and Russian business. We will continue to work in this same way. I am sure that if our joint plans for Armenia to join the Customs Union and Common Economic Space go ahead – and I see no real obstacles here – we will have even more opportunities for work together. Our trade will grow too, and our economies will become more effective and competitive.
Thank you very much for the invitation.
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