Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Tigran Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin Meet In Saint Petersburg
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and Russian Premier Vladimir Putin met today at Saint Petersburg’s Konstantinowski Palace. The agenda comprised a wide range of economic status and trade cooperation-related issues.
Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin: “Welcoming you, Mr. Sargsyan, I should note that we have quite good dynamics of economic ties. Russian investments have been growing in Armenia’s economy to reach the mark of USD 3bn. We are currently working to improve Armenia’s transport system. The Russian side has assumed the concession of railway management, with 5 billion ruble-worth investments made to upgrade your country’s railway network.
I understand that a strategic program is out for the Armenian Railway, ushering in a new stage of development activities. As you may know, the Upper Lars border point has been opened recently at the request of the Armenian side to improve inland communications between our two countries. We are likewise well aware that the North-South Highway is under construction in Armenia the economic aspect of which has to be looked at yet. I would like to stress that we boast good relationship in power engineering as well and in nuclear energy, in particular. Gazprom has already invested USD 1.6bn in Armenia’s power network. There is no doubt that our joint efforts will be a full success. I am pleased with this meeting which is sure to further boost bilateral relations.”
Thanking his Russian counterpart for kind remarks, the head of the Armenian government stated as follows: “Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. Our country’s economy has been on the upgrade for the last two years following the global financial and economic crisis. 2% growth was stated in Armenia last year, and it is expected to rise to nearly 5% this year. Armenian-Russian relations have good dynamics of development. Russian companies feel safe in Armenia. Over 1200 Russian companies are currently operational in our country with a satisfactory development outlook. The export potential of Armenia-based Russian companies is up. The investments made by those entities with sizeable Russian equity boast a high level of profitability. I wish to underscore that our joint efforts keep going quite successfully with no programs failed so far.
I would like to especially thank the Russian partners for providing a USD 500mn worth stabilization loan in 2009, which helped us cope with the negative impact of the global crisis. 250 million was used to build housing in the earthquake zone. On the one hand, it promoted economic growth in our country since part of the proceeds targeted construction and, on the other hand, it took up a social bias allowing people to move from temporary shelters into comfortable apartments. The balance of 250 million was used for crediting the home economy including the companies in difficulty.”
Note that the Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan-led government delegation is on a two-day working visit to Saint Petersburg.
