Saturday, 15 November 2008
RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received a delegation led by Romanian Minister for Foreign Affairs Lazar Komanesku.
Highly appreciative of the current level of bilateral relationship, the Armenian Prime Minister emphasized that the ingoing cooperation can be developed from year to year in almost all the spheres of activity. The head of government presented the Armenian side's proposals on cooperation expansion in such areas as transport, agriculture, education and science, justice, culture, defense etc. In this context, he highlighted the signing of an additional protocol to the existing agreement between the government of the Republic of Armenia and the government of Romania on encouragement and mutual protection of investments. Tigran Sargsyan stressed the need for expanding cooperation between the Armenian Development Agency, the Armenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Armenian Union of Industrialists and Businessmen and their Romanian counterparts, organizing business forums, exchanging business-related information between the two countries. In noting that small and medium-size entrepreneurship is among Armenia's key economic priorities, the Prime Minister made a point of establishing cooperation ties, exchanging know-how between and developing joint programs by the respective entities of Armenia and Romania.
The parties also marked the importance of conducting regular exchanges of tourism-related information and advertising materials, as well as hosting reciprocated visits of tourist operators and journalists.
Appreciative of the proposals of the Armenian side, the Romanian Foreign Minister noted that today a strong focus is being placed on economic affairs in his country as evidenced by the availability of a large number of business sector representatives in his delegation. Lazar Komanesku said to carry messages on the part of Romania's President and Prime Minister about his country's readiness to expand bilateral cooperation and strengthen ties in the political, economic and many other spheres.
The Head of the Armenian government and the Romanian Foreign Minister spoke in praise about the not so numerous, but sufficiently important Armenian community of Romania. According to Mr. Komanesku, the Armenian community of Romania can serve as a powerful bridge between our two countries.
During the meeting, Tigran Sargsyan asked Mr. Komanescu about the global financial turmoil's impact on Romania and the measures to counteract such impact. Here, he took the opportunity to brief the guest on his government's anti-crisis action plan.
In conclusion, Tigran Sargsyan stressed once again that all the necessary pre-requisites are in place for Armenia and Romania to upgrade bilateral relationship in a broad range of spheres, including politics, economy etc.
