MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the sidelines of a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit in Moscow on Tuesday.
“We are very happy to welcome you all to Moscow and hold a bilateral meeting as part of the work of the CIS leaders,” Putin said as he greeted the Armenian Prime Minister.
Addressing key issues, the Russian President stated, “Trade and economic relations are developing very vigorously and successfully. Trade turnover reached $7.4 billion last year, and in the first half of this year, it grew two and a half times, exceeding $8.3 billion. If we continue at this pace, trade turnover this year could reach $14-16 billion, a record figure.”
“Russia is the leading foreign investor in the Armenian economy, with about four billion dollars in accumulated investments. The efforts of both the intergovernmental commission and the business council are yielding good results,” he added.
Putin also emphasized the importance of humanitarian cooperation.
Prime Minister Pashinyan noted that, over the past few months, the bilateral political dialogue has been quite active. “Deputy Prime Minister Overchuk visited us in Yerevan. Not only did a meeting of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation take place, but we also had a substantive discussion on virtually all issues on our agenda,” he said.
“A meeting of the EAEU Intergovernmental Council was held in Yerevan in early October. During this council, we had a productive discussion regarding our cooperation and the agenda of the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation with the Chairman of the Russian Government, Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin,” the Armenian PM added.
He emphasized that the meeting provided a valuable opportunity to summarize these discussions.
During the meeting with Putin, Pashinyan “expressed concern about the language and terms used by several Russian officials on regional issues.”
