Friday, August 9 2019 17:59

ArmInfo. Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan who is in Kyrgyzstan on a working visit today met with RF Premier Dmitry Medvedev, the press service of Armenian Prime Minister  informs.

The Prime Ministers of Armenia and Russia discussed a wide range of  issues related to the Armenian- Russian strategic relations and  referred to the current agenda of bilateral cooperation. In  particular, Nikol Pashinyan and Dmitry Medvedev talked about the  furtherance of trade and economic relations, increased turnover and  implementation of joint projects. Nikol Pashinyan and Dmitry Medvedev  hailed the dynamic growth in bilateral relations, noting that the  active efforts should be continued to strengthen and develop the  Armenian-Russian allied relations.

Praising Armenia's successful chairmanship in the EAEU, Dmitry  Medvedev noted that there has been some progress in bilateral  relations as evidenced by the frequently reciprocated top-level  official meetings and the contacts held in intergovernmental and  inter-parliamentary formats.

Welcoming the pace of strategic cooperation between Armenia and  Russia, the Prime Minister of Armenia hailed the progress stated in  the field of tourism: the number of Russian tourists visiting Armenia  rose by 19% in the first 6 months of 2019 as compared to the same  period last year, while the total number of tourists visiting Armenia  increased by 12.8% in the first half of this year.

Prime Minister Pashinyan noted with satisfaction that the operational  mechanism for dealing with problems emerging in Upper Lars proved  quite effective. Coming to the furtherance of bilateral relations,  the Premier highlighted the need for tapping the full potential  inherent the Eurasian Economic union.  During the meeting, the Prime  Ministers of Armenia and Russia referred to cooperation in the fields  of gas supplies, nuclear power, air transportations, as well as to  other issues of mutual interest. The parties took the opportunity to  exchange views on a number of high-profile topics featuring in  Armenian and Russian media outlets.

It should be noted that according to the data of the Statistical  Committee of the Republic of Armenia, the y- o-y growth in foreign  trade between Armenia and Russia in the first half of 2019 slowed  down to 4.8% from 19.9% in the same period of 2018, amounting to $  946.1 million. Russia remains the leader not only in this indicator  but also in export and import - $ 312.1 million and $ 634.03 million,  respectively, with a slowdown in both import - from 16.6% to 4.4%,  and export - from 27.5% to 5.6%.  According to the same source, the  volume of foreign trade of Armenia with the EAEU countries increased  in the I half of 2018 by 5.3% per annum (against growth by 20.4% a  year earlier) - up to $ 982.2 million, and with the EU countries  decreased by 16.6% ( against growth by 40.4% a year earlier) - up to  $ 756.3 million. Moreover, the export of Armenian goods to the EAEU  countries increased 5.7% (against growth by 28.5% a year earlier) -  up to $ 322 million, with an increase in imports by 5, 1% (against  growth by 16.9% a year earlier) - up to $ 660.2 million, while with  the EU countries, exports and imports turned in the direction of  decline - by 26.1% and 10.1%, respectively (against growth by 22, 9%  and 55.7% respectively year before) - to $ 273.2 million and $ 483.1  million respectively. Among the EAEU countries in terms of foreign  trade, Belarus follows Russia - $ 31.3 million (y-o-y growth  accelerated from 24% to 31.3%), Kazakhstan - $ 3.3 million (y-o-y  dynamics reversal from 2.5-fold growth to 43.5% decline ) and  Kyrgyzstan - $ 1.5 million (accelerating y-o-y growth from 0.1% to  3.4-fold). The export of Armenian goods to Belarus increased by 30.5%  with an increase in imports by 31.5%, while in the direction of  Kazakhstan, exports and imports were in decline - by 49.5% and 31.4%  respectively. In the direction of Kyrgyzstan, significant growth was  recorded in exports - 4.3-fold, with a reversal in the dynamics of  imports from a significant growth of 54.4% decline.