Friday, 18 March 2005
Today RA Prime Minister A. Margaryan has received the delegation headed by Vladimir Konopliov, President of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus.
In pointing out to the sustained upwards trends in the development of the relationship between Armenia and Belarus over the recent years, the two sides have emphasized, in particular, the need in initiating effective political collaboration, including in the framework of international organizations, further strengthening the existing legal framework and keeping up the pace of contacts at various levels. In prioritizing the cooperation at both legislative and executive levels between our two countries, Mr. A. Margaryan and Mr. Konopliov expressed their satisfaction with the recent activation of bilateral economic and commercial exchanges, which rose by 115.7% in 2004 notwithstanding the existing logistical bottlenecks. They stressed the key role played by the Armenian-Belarusian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation as established in 1999, which had since met 6 times to discuss a broad range of issues relating to different fields of activity. According to the parties, efficient and well-performing ties of cooperation had been established between the respective ministries and government agencies and the chambers of commerce and industry of the two countries. Currently Armenia and Belarus are holding on good partnership relations in the military and military-technical spheres. At the same time, both sides have pointed out to the considerable amount of possibilities still unavailed.
The head of Belarus's Parliament said to be impressed by the numerous positive changes occurred in Armenia since his first visit in 1999 that could well be traced in both Yerevan and marzes. He noted that Belarus was looking forward to Armenian Prime Minister's second official visit in May, 2005, which would allow Mr. Margaryan to be the eye-witness of similar changes operated in Belarus as well. Mr. A. Margaryan and Mr. Konopliov stressed that reciprocated high-level contacts such as the present visit might serve a strong impetus to the further development of cooperation and friendship between the two States and peoples.
