Karen Karapetyan noted the importance of expanding trade and economic ties between Armenia and the Czech Republic

ArmInfo. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan received a delegation led by the President of the Senate of the Czech Republic (upper house of parliament) Milan Stech. This was reported by the press service of the Government.

The Prime Minister stressed that the Czech Republic is one of Armenia's most important partners in Europe, and Armenia is interested in expanding and deepening cooperation in both bilateral and multilateral formats. K. Karapetyan expressed his satisfaction with the level of the Armenian-Czech political relations: "Despite the fact that compared to 2016 we have a 60% growth in bilateral trade, but still the figures are far from the potential that we have, that an open business forum will give a new impetus and help build up a promising business relationship." K. Karapetyan expressed his confidence that the restoration of direct air communication between Yerevan and Prague can contribute to the development of trade and economic relations and cooperation in the field of tourism. Touching upon the possibilities of implementing investment programs in Armenia, the Prime Minister called upon the Czech side to consider our country as a member of the Eurasian Economic Union and as a country having access to the Iranian markets. He added that negotiations with some Czech companies are already taking place in the free economic zone of Meghri.

Milan Stach stressed the dynamic development of the Armenian-Czech relations. He also expressed satisfaction with the level of political relations and considered it necessary to fully realize the existing potential for deepening trade relations. In this regard, the Chairman of the Senate of the Czech Republic considers it promising to leave Armenia through the markets of Eurasia and Iran and expand ties in various sectors of the economy. He also expressed confidence that the signing of the new Armenia-EU agreement will yield positive results.

According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, the foreign trade turnover between Armenia and the Czech Republic in January-July 2017 amounted to $ 14.95 million with an annual growth of 88.8%, in particular exports - $ 952.2 thousand with an annual decline of 27.5% and imports - over $ 14 million with an annual growth of 2.1 times.