Armenia and Beirut note the need to strengthen economic relations

ArmInfo. The level of the Armenian-Lebanese economic relations is seriously inferior to the political ones, and there is a serious potential for its development.

According to the press service of the Armenian Government, on March 12 at a joint press conference with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said the head of the Armenian executive body Karen Karapetyan, who is on an official visit to Beirut.

The Armenian prime minister characterized the last meeting with a colleague from Lebanon as an effective one, taking place in an atmosphere of mutual trust and constructivism. "We exchanged views and stated that the relations between our countries are in every respect at a high level.We talked about the opportunities that our countries have.In particular, we do not hide and are interested in that the Lebanese business came to Armenia, and recorded our opportunities and privileges today in this direction.We have recorded the fact that taking into account the membership of Yerevan in the Eurasian Economic Union, the availability of FEZ on the border with Iran, and the preferential trade regime GSP + with the EU, and formable Today in the country, the business environment and opportunities allow entering the large enough markets located in the territory of Armenia, which I mentioned above, "Karapetyan said, and in this context listed the areas in which the two countries can cooperate, including, light industry, jewelry production, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, IT, tourism.

At that, Armenian Prime Minister informed that an agreement was reached to continue work on the creation of an Armenian-Lebanese investment fund, which will support bilateral initiatives. "We also talked about the development of solar and alternative energy, especially the role of the Armenian community in the political and public life of Lebanon, and the development and strengthening of bilateral relations." I also took the opportunity to invite Mr Hariri to Armenia, and we also agreed to use our intergovernmental commission to prepare such an agenda that would allow holding a meeting of the intergovernmental commission during the visit of Mr Hariri to Armenia, "the Armenian Prime Minister said.

In turn, the Prime Minister of Lebanon stated that Karapetyan's visit to Beirut demonstrates the importance that the two countries betray to the development and strengthening of the Armenian-Lebanese relations. "It is a great honor for me that my father Rafik Hariri was the man who laid a solid foundation in friendly relations with Armenia in 1991. And we are committed to continue this way for the benefit of the peoples of our two countries." My Armenian colleague and I agreed to strengthen and develop the relations between Lebanon and Armenia in different fields, and at various levels - cooperation in the banking sector, especially if we take into account the fact that Lebanese banks are known all over the world and have a serious potential for financing as a public as well as private projects, we are proud of this and many projects have confirmed this, talking about the implementation of sectoral cooperation.We will pay attention to the fact that the meeting of the intergovernmental commission was held in the foreseeable future, of course, it should be held after the elections planned in Lebanon, - said the Lebanese Prime Minister.  At the same time, he stressed the importance of developing bilateral economic relations. According to him, the Armenian Prime Minister will have a lot of meetings in the framework of the visit, including with the representatives of the private sector, and which are aimed at encouraging investments, both Lebanese in the Armenian economy, and Armenian in the economy of Lebanon. According to the head of the Lebanese government, this is based on the interests of the two countries. "The Armenian prime minister proposed an interesting idea that needs to be explored, it will encourage investments, and we should start implementing it in the very near future." We also talked about cooperation in the technology sphere. "There are many areas where Armenia and Lebanon can cooperate my relations with Armenia are important, and God grant that we were able to develop them through joint efforts, "Hariri said.