ITAR-TASS, Russia
June 13, 2012 Wednesday 10:06 PM GMT+4

Russia plays key role in Armenia’s security, economy, PM says

YEREVAN June 13

Russia plays a key role in ensuring Armenia’s security and has a
leading position in its economy, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan said at the Russian Embassy at a reception making Russia’s
Day that is celebrated on June 12.

“Today Russia plays a key role in Armenia’s security system and it
occupies a leading position in our economy,” he said. “Russia is the
main investor in the Armenian economy, one of its main creditors and
one of the major foreign trade partners.”

“We are interested to improve these relations further, which is fully
consistent with our national interests,” the prime minister said.

“Over the past 20-odd years we have not only preserved the
centuries-old friendship between our peoples but we have also enriched
it with new content and raised it to a qualitatively new level,”
Sargsyan said, adding, “Strategic partnership between Armenia and
Russia has crowned this friendship”.

“We give priority among others to diversification of economic
cooperation between our countries. We are convinced that intensive
interaction in sectors that build up innovation potential will give a
boost to our economic cooperation. This will also allow us to fill our
strategic partnership and allied relations between Russia and Armenia
with new substance,” he said.

“Russia’s Day is a young but important holiday that is connected with
pivotal events in the newest history of the Russian state, with
fundamental changes in socio-political, economic and spiritual life of
Russian society,” Sargsyan said.

“In the early 1990s, our peoples made a historical choice in favour of
building civic society, developing democratic institutions and
modernising the country. We embarked on a thorny path of reform. But
this path opened up new opportunities for us and prospects for more
effective and harmonious development,” he said.

The prime minister wished “the brotherly Russian people peace,
well-being and realisation of all plans”.

Trade turnover between Russia and Armenia in 2011 had reached one
billion U.S. dollars.

The two countries have good prospects in many sectors of the economy,
primarily in the energy sector, the power industry, atomic energy, and
many other serious projects.

There is a big potential in joint development of the agro-industrial
sector in Armenia.

“The high level of the political dialogue and mutual desire to
strengthen our strategic partnership create a very good atmosphere for
further development of Russian-Armenian relations,” Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan said earlier. “Trade turnover grows every year. And
humanitarian cooperation becomes increasingly diverse.”

“We cooperate practically in all areas, and we are pleased by the pace
with which our relations develop, even though we always want more,”
the president said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress