Friday, 25 September 2009
The RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan-led government delegation is in Jaroslavl (Russian Federation) on a working visit, where the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation is holding its 11th session.
In anticipation of the session, the commission co-chairs - Republic of Armenia Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and RF Minister of Transport Igor Levitin - had private talks, after which they took part in the opening of the plenary session.
Taking the floor for his opening address, Igor Levitin greeted the meeting by noting that it was symbolical for Jaroslavl to host the session as a couple of days ago it happened to host an international symposium which looked at ways of coping with the global crisis and establishing new economic relationship on a global level. According to the Russian transport minister, economic stability worldwide is facing a serious test at this point of time.
In his remarks, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan thanked the Russian side for a warm welcome and the invitation to attend the Jaroslavl town thousandth anniversary celebrations. With reference to bilateral economic cooperation, the head of the Armenian government pointed out that economic developments in Armenia have many similarities with the ones taking place in Russia, and this is not accidental. Our economic systems are closely interrelated and integrated. Over a thousand enterprises with Russian equity are currently operational in Armenia. The power transmission systems and transport networks of both countries are integrated with each other. The Prime Minister further said that Armenia’s economy proved quite seriously hit by the economic crisis in the first half-year of 2009, while today some growth trends can be witnessed with guarded optimism, which means that the Armenian government’s anti-crisis action plan is taking effect. Tigran Sargsyan took the opportunity to express his appreciation to the Government of the Russian Federation and Vladimir Putin for valuable support in this matter.
Getting down to the agenda, the meeting discussed and passed a number of decisions concerning the progress with the implementation of the protocol adopted at the 10th sitting of the Commission held on October 10, 2008, the current status and the outlook of bilateral trade relations and legal framework applicable between the two countries, the possibilities for re-commissioning those enterprises handed over to Russia against interstate debt, collaboration in the energy and transport systems, as well as in the areas of culture and education.
The session participants appreciated the work done toward developing cooperation in all of the aforementioned areas.
The venue and timing of the next 12th session were said subject to agreement through diplomatic channels.
Before winding up the session, Igor Levitin conveyed warm greetings to the head of the Armenian government on behalf of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
After signing the Protocol of the 11th session of the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and RF Minister of Transport Igor Levitin gave a joint news conference.
Later today the RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan-headed government delegation will be back to Yerevan.
