Friday, 6 October 2017
Dear guests and colleagues,
Dear participants of both conferences:
I am delighted to welcome our guests to Armenia and wish you fruitful work.
Today we are holding two conferences - the Second International Forum of Eurasian Partnership and the Sixth Armenian-Russian Interregional Conference. As Tigran Sargsyan mentioned, the Second International Forum of Eurasian Partnership has set an extremely important and topical agenda.
In my capacity of Prime Minister of Armenia, I would like to draw our partners’ attention to the opportunities available in Armenia. I think we can discuss the existing problems, challenges and prospects at this platform.
Being a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia can be viewed as a solid platform for our friends not only in terms of its domestic market, but also in terms of developing trade relationship with neighboring Iran.
We are going to complete work on the launch of a free economic zone with Iran, and we are negotiating with the Iranian side on a special border regime. Armenia enjoys GSP+ and GSP privileged trade regimes with EU countries and the United States of America, respectively. I think it would be right to discuss the prospects of our countries’ involvement in these works, if possible.
As regards the Sixth Armenian-Russian Interregional Conference, I would like to note that economic cooperation is on the rise between Armenia and Russia at all intergovernmental levels, though the existing potential has not yet been fully utilized. Moreover, the actual potential is much more than today.
I am convinced that horizontal interregional contacts are an important component, especially considering that the Armenian Government recently emphasized the need for Marz governors’ strict accountability for their regions’ economic performance.
We boast high commodity turnover with all countries in the Eurasian Economic Union, including Russia: imports and exports are growing. After making a decision on the possibility for Russian citizens to travel to Armenia with their domestic passports, we stated a 37% growth in tourism.
I think we have a lot of topics to discuss. I wish all of you fruitful work and, of course, I wish you could feel the local color, the flavor and uniqueness of our fantastic country. Good mood for everyone.
