Thursday, 14 October 2004
Today RA Prime Minister A. Margaryan has received the delegation headed by Mr. Igor Levitin, co-chairman of the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation. The Prime Minister has expressed the hope that the co-chairmen of the commission would be able to discuss the whole range of issues of mutual concern and find effective ways for their solution.
Mr. Levitin and his Armenian counterpart Mr. Serzh Sargsyan, RA Minister of Defense, briefed the Prime Minister on the range of items included in the Protocol of the co-chairmen meeting, which will be signed later today. These items bore on the long-term cooperation program between the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation, the current status of bilateral legal framework, the topical issues high on the agenda of commercial and economic collaboration between the two countries and other questions raised at panel discussions.
The two sides have expressed their satisfaction of the decision made by the Russian government with reference to Armenia's adherence to the North-South transport corridor with the latter having been previously discussed during the official visit of the Armenian Prime Minister to the Russian Federation earlier this year. Mr. A. Margaryan has raised the issue of a possibly speedy refurbishment and re-commissioning of those enterprises forwarded to Russia under the Property for Debt Program. He also touched upon the economic bottlenecks caused by the closure of railway and seaport communication outlets between Russia and Armenia, including the recent blocking of the Upper Lars border-point. The interlocutors discussed the ways in which the outstanding debt for navigations services provided to such air carriers from Russia and Armenia as have ceased their operations could be settled on the basis of reciprocity.
In closing, the two sides expressed the hope that the issues reviewed would possibly be given prompt solutions.
