Republican Party of Armenia

At RF Premier Dmitry Medvedev’s invitation, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan is paying a two-day official visit to Russia. As part of the visit, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev received his Armenian counterpart at Gorki residence of the Head of Russian Government. First, the two heads of government held a private meeting, followed by an expanded one featuring official delegations in the format of a working breakfast.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in his greeting remarks: “Dear Karen Wilhelmovich, I heartily welcome you. This is your first official visit to our country. We have special allied relations with Armenia, and there are always issues to discuss. It is important that a number of documents have been prepared in anticipation of your visit, aimed at developing our cooperation. I hope they may help build up closer economic ties and human contacts.

We will discuss an economic agenda. I want to emphasize that bilateral trade turnover has been stable despite the international situation and despite changes in energy prices. If we speak of our country’s imports and supply of products from Armenia, we stated a 70% growth last year which, to my mind, is the result of Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union and strengthened economic ties. But there are also a number of other issues – investment and humanitarian. Let us talk about all this. I cordially welcome you and wish you a successful visit to the Russian Federation.”

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan stated in his remarks: “Dear Dmitry Anatolevich, first of all, I would like to thank you for the invitation to visit Moscow and the reception of our delegation. Taking this opportunity, I would like to congratulate you on your election as Chairman of the United Russia party, wish you every success and express confidence that everything will be fine.

Today’s meeting is a good opportunity to discuss topical directions of the Armenian-Russian cooperation, and I want to assure you that my delegation has come over with a very positive and practical mindset.

We have been traditionally boasting quite a hectic agenda of bilateral relations. As you noted, our governments have been able to move on amid a complicated international situation faced in recent years. You may know that the Russian capital is widely represented Armenia’s economy. However, I believe that we should not relax, and today we can explore and outline new directions of cooperation.

A series of reforms are underway in Armenia aimed at creating a favorable environment for investors. In this respect, we would highly appreciate the commitment of the Russian capital. We have come along with a number of new proposals, which will allow us to diversify and expand the vectors of cooperation. I am confident, too, that we are in for a constructive conversation. Once again, I thank you for the invitation.”

On the sidelines of the working breakfast, the official delegations of the two countries will discuss a wide range of issues of mutual interest and sign a number of documents.