ARMENIAN PRESIDENT TO PAY THREE-DAY VISIT TO MOSCOW
ITAR-TASS
June 24 2008
Russia
The presidents of Russia and Armenia, Dmitry Medvedev and Serge
Sargsyan, will on Monday sign a joint statement of the heads of
state. A senior Kremlin official told Itar-Tass that the document
"covers a wide range of issues of Russian-Armenian relations."
Medvedev and Sargsyan who took office almost simultaneously (with a
difference in one month) this year have already met twice. Sargsyan
visited Moscow late in March and was in St. Petersburg early in June
to attend the informal CIS summit. The same day, the Russian leader
extended an invitation to his Armenian colleague to come to Russia
for an official visit.
Sargsyan will stay in Moscow for three days. This is his first foreign
trip after taking office.
"The central events of his program include meetings with President
Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. They will continue
an intensive and trustful Russian-Armenian political dialogue at
various levels that sets positive dynamics to the entire range of
bilateral relations," the Kremlin official said.
"The talks will focus on a wide range of issues related to Russian
and Armenian interplay, urgent regional and international problems,"
the representative of the Kremlin administration said.
He believes that "the intensity and productivity of Russian-Armenian
bilateral and multilateral contacts confirm the sides’ interest in
ensuring the succession of a course towards further strengthening of
mutually beneficial union partnership. They are a vital factor for
safeguarding stability and security in the region."
The Kremlin official said that Moscow and Yerevan were building and
consolidating trade and economic links. Russia is one of Armenia’s
leading economic partners.
The high-ranking official believes that the two countries whose
"reciprocal trade turnover which surpassed a mark of 0.8 billion
dollars in 2007 have a real chance to increase it to one billion
dollars." The volume of Russian investments in the republic’s economy
is more than 1.2 billion dollars.
"Bilateral investment cooperation actively contributes to forming
favourable macroeconomic trends in Armenia’s national economy and
implementing large-scale economic projects which have social return
for Armenian citizens," the Kremlin official went on to say.
Russian companies are represented in promising sectors of the
Armenian economy – mining, telecommunications and banking. Major
Russian corporations such as Gazprom, Inter RAO EUS, the VTB Bank,
Russian Aluminium and Vympelkom operate in the Armenian market. The
Russian Railways Company, Alrosa and Mobile TeleSystems are joining
big and significant projects.
The Kremlin official recalled that energy is traditionally a priority
area of cooperation. "Russian companies fully meet Armenia’s needs
in natural gas and fresh nuclear fuel, gas and energy projects are
implemented, new opportunities are arising for joint work in nuclear
energy, including safe operation of the Armenian nuclear power station,
geological prospecting and industrial development of uranium deposits.
The Russian president’s administration notes positive shifts in the
solution of the problem of expansion of Armenia’s foreign transport
links, especially with Russia.
"New horizons are being opened as railway sea ferries between port
Kavkaz and port Poti in Georgia begin active operation and as Armenian
railways come under concession control of the Russian Railways,"
the agency’s interlocutor went on to say.
He added that Russia and Armenia pay great attention to cultural
and humanitarian aspects of bilateral relations. "The public in
the two countries actively participates in numerous projects aimed
at promoting cultural and educational ties. Cooperation has been
developing successfully within the framework of the Council for
humanitarian cooperation and the Inter-State Foundation for the
CIS humanitarian cooperation. The First International festival of
Russian-language radio broadcasting held on June 20-22 had a serious
response," the Kremlin official said.
In his view, the Russian and Armenian presidents will exchange view
on international issues.
"They are expected to stress the importance of close coordination
of foreign policy actions on a bilateral and multilateral basis,
including in the light of Armenia’s upcoming presidency in the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)," the Kremlin
administration official said.
He added that the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement would also be a topic
for discussion. "Russia’s stance of principle remains unchanged – it
will continue rendering assistance to the conflicting parties to find
a mutually acceptable solution," the Kremlin representative emphasized.