The Government of the Republic of Armenia

The intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation between Russia and Armenia started toady proceedings in Yekaterinburg. A private meeting of Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and RF Minister of Transport Igor Levitin was held before the opening of the 12th session. Greeting the participants of the session, Tigran Sargsyan thanked the Russian side for the warm welcome offered to his delegation.
During the press conference of the committee co-chairs, following the meeting, the prime minister of Armenia said, referring the bilateral economic cooperation that among the agenda issues the participants of the session discussed and made decisions about the implementation process of the 11th session of the economic cooperation between Armenian and Russia, about the current situation and further development of the bilateral legal field and trade relations, about the activities of the enterprises given to Russian Federation by Armenia for the expense of the public debt, about the cooperation in the nuclear system, transport, communication and informative technologies, agricultural, humanitarian, environmental areas.
According to Tigran Sargsyan the Armenian-Russian bilateral economic cooperation is developing more and more. “Russia was among the countries that helped Armenia during the global economic crisis. We received a loan of 500 million dollars from the Russian Federation for the realization of the anti-crisis program. These funds were directed to the recovering of the disaster zone, as well as were given to small and medium business enterprises as credits: this step helped greatly to mitigate the negative impacts of the crisis,” said the prime-minister of Armenia. According to him they have agreed on 15 issues during the today’s meeting, which will promote the realization of the bilateral programs. “We also discussed the Armenian-Russian joint business plans,” Tigran Sargsyan said. As he informed, Armenia is ready to establish a free economic zone in the “Mars” factory, accept legal norms for the realization of other investment projects. “Works referring the way “Mars” will be exploited are being carried out with “Sitronix” and our Russian partners. Armenian authorities have expressed their willingness to about the creation of the economic zone in the area of the factory: this will let carry out new investment projects. All the issues have to be agreed on until the end of this year”, said Tigran Sargsyan.
According the Prime-Minister of Armenia, the joint programs of diamond processing were also discussed. “It is knows that Armenia is experienced in this field. We are now recovering the amounts of the diamond raw material demands between the “Alrosa” company and Armenian enterprises”, the Prime Minister noted.
As I. Levitin said, the sides have implemented serious steps to review the normative bases last year, and during the visit of the president of the Russian Federation Dmitriy Medvedev a series of agreements were signed, according to which the implemented projects are now controlled. He informed that four contracts are being prepared to strengthen the ties between Russian and Armenian regions, which are very important for strengthening trading and economic relations. “We were able to restore the works of the checkpoint of Upper Lars by the request of the Armenian side, and as a result the trading ties between our countries started to operate more efficiently. But we have not been able to restore the level of the pre-crisis period trade turnover, so we have to continue making serious steps,” said Levitin, expressing his gratitude to Tigran Sargsyan for visiting Yekaterinburg. According to him it was decided today to sign territorial agreement between the regions of Sverdlovsk and Armavir. Concerning “Nairit” factory, the Prime Minister of Armenia said that the main creditor of the factory is the Interstate Bank, but as it is in the stage of reconstruction and its goals and objectives are mainly turning to a settlement character, it’s reasonable to transfer the loan to another bank. “In particular, Yevrazes Bank or the anti-crisis fund can be the creditors of “Nairit” which also makes large-scale investments. Instructions are given to the finance ministries of Armenia and Russia to discuss that issue and submit relevant recommendations,” the Prime Minister of Armenia said.
Tigran Sargsyan and Igor Levitin signed the protocol of the 12th session of the Intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation between Russia and Armenia. An official dinner was given in honor of the participants of the commission’s 12th session by Igor Levitin. The head of the Armenian government also visited the St. Karapet church.
The delegation led by Tigran Sargsyan will return to Yerevan tonight.