Russia and Armenia are successfully implementing bilateral trade and economic cooperation amid anti-Russian sanctions, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Thursday, TASS reports.
"Together with our Armenian partners, we are making operational decisions aimed at protecting our trade and economic cooperation in particular in the face of illegal sanctions against the Russian Federation," Mishustin said at a meeting with his Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinyan.
Mishustin mentioned that in the first half of this year, bilateral trade increased by 42% and exceeded $1.6 billion.
The Russian Prime Minister also spoke in favor of creating comfortable conditions for the activities of businessmen from two countries.
"The business mission of Russian companies held in Armenia in September with the participation of VEB.RF will be a good platform for this purpose," Mishustin said.
According to the head of the Russian government, priority is also being given to unblocking economic and transport ties in South Caucasus.
In his turn, Nikol Pashinyan noted.
"Thank you, dear Mikhail Vladimirovich, I am happy about our meeting. These meetings are important to us in the context of managing situations that, unfortunately, often arise.
However, there is also good news, the numbers you talked about are a very specific result of our work. I remember during my official visit to Russia in April, when we met and discussed what we should do together in order to somehow manage the challenges, which our economies face. I am happy that today, this conversation is already showing concrete results, particularly for the Armenian economy. You emphasized how much the trade turnover between Armenia and Russia increased. I would like to emphasize once again that I consider this to be a concrete result of our conversations and joint efforts.
I called you recently to thank you for the quick solutions that have been adopted, in particular, in the context of crisis situations at the Upper Lars checkpoint. The representatives of Armenia and Russia found very prompt solutions with their Georgian counterparts, as a result of which we were able to overcome the situation.
The high-level political dialogue between Armenia and Russia continues, it is an effective dialogue. Two days ago, in Vladimir Putin's telephone conversation, we also emphasized the importance of the 25-year anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between Armenia and Russia. In general, this year is a jubilee year for us. In April, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Russia. These days we also have a new anniversary, and I am sure that these anniversaries reflect the spirit of our relationship.
I am sure that despite all the difficulties, together we will overcome the situations which create problems for our economies and cooperation. I am very glad that today we have the opportunity to discuss the broad agenda of our bilateral relations. As for the Eurasian Economic Union, we discussed everything in detail in a narrow format, and I think we came to constructive solutions."
