Monday, 20 October 2008
The Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission on economic affaires met in a jubilee session in the conference hall of Metropol Hotel in Yerevan. The meeting was preceded by private talks held between commission co-chairs RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and RF Minister of Transport Igor Levitin. Then the co-chairs took part in the plenary session's opening ceremony. In his address to the session participants, commission co-chair, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said in particular:
"Held on July 1, 1997 in Yerevan, the first commission meeting marked a new stage in the history of the two countries' economic cooperation. The years that followed said first meeting demonstrated the commission's ability to solve the problems faced, outline prospects for long-term cooperation and identify new areas for interaction.
Today we can state with satisfaction that some clear-cut traditions have been shaped during the proceedings of the commission with the co-chairs meeting on a regular basis to provide for coordination of activities in the intervals between two consecutive sessions.
I am confident that as anticipated by the coordinated work of respective experts, today's meeting will build on the past 10 years' achievements and will pave a way for addressing issues of mutual interest.
This 10th jubilee session of the commission is likewise remarkable as it falls on the eve of RF President Dmitry Medvedev's upcoming visit to Armenia, and I hope that the outcome of our joint work will be given a favorable assessment on the part of our two heads of state."
Russian co-chair, RF Minister of Transport Igor Levitin first of all expressed his appreciation for a warm welcome and emphasized in part:
"The bilateral economic cooperation is developing consistently and it is natural to believe that trade turnover between the two countries may reach the level of USD 1 billion by the end of this year. Though, we will go even further as we are setting a more ambitious target in the perspective, and I would like to state that the Commission is reserved a key role in the cooperation between economic sectors and business circles.
It can be concluded from our experts' findings that most of those areas targeted recently
