Saturday, 6 December 2008
On December 5, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan left for Moscow to discuss with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin the current status and the outlook for bilateral economic cooperation. The two heads of government held private talks in the Receptions House of RA Government, after which the delegation traveled to the "White House" in Moscow. The two sides issued official statements, in which the bilateral economic cooperation was said to be quite positive, as a whole. According to Vladimir Putin, trade turnover between Armenia and Russia has been growing steadily to record a 17% increase against 2007. In the meantime, the overall level of investment rose to 1.6 billion rubles.
Tigran Sargsyan conveyed condolences to the head of the Russian government and the people of Russia in connection with the passing of All-Russian Patriarch Alexiy II. He reiterated the readiness of the Armenian government to shape a favorable business environment for about 1000 Russian enterprises operational in Armenia. "The Armenian-Russian relations have sufficiently good development dynamics in all spheres," the Prime Minister said. He stressed the need for holding discussions with Armenia's strategic partner on eventual joint action toward mitigating the negative effect of the global financial and economic crisis. It was agreed that the two finance ministers should meet to look into the details of an eventual anti-crisis action plan. The Prime Minister of Armenia assured that the Russian side shall continue implementing all of the projected measures in Armenia's banking system. The two prime ministers also discussed the possibility of Russia's involvement in the construction of a new NPP and an Armenia-Iran railway line.
Answering the news reporters' questions, Tigran Sargsyan underscored the need for ensuring a sharp increase of investment in the spheres of road building, water supply, power engineering, housing construction in the disaster zone, as well as in lending available to small and medium-size enterprises. Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan's planned meeting with Moscow-based businessmen of Armenian origin was deferred due to the passing of Patriarch Alexiy II.
