ArmInfo.The government of Armenia in its program has clearly proposed and is now working on serious economic projects, on the investment attractiveness of the country, on reforming tax legislation. Armenian Ambassador to Russia Vardan Toghanyan said this on the air of ''Echo Moscow'' answering the question of what economic results the government has already been able to demonstrate.
"If we take, for example, the statistics of our trade turnover with Russia, since we are talking about Armenian-Russian relations, let's say the 17th year was a record one in the history of our relations since the collapse of the USSR - the trade turnover between Armenia and Russia. In January-August of the 18th year, our trade growth reached 23%, "said the ambassador, adding that it was difficult to achieve any serious results in 5 months.
Toghanyan also pointed out that there is interest from investors, including Russian and foreign. The ambassador assured that a conceptual program, on which the government is working together with the business will be proposed soon. To clarify whether any changes in the Armenian-Russian relations made the confrontation between Russia and the West, Toghanyan stressed that there is not. "Despite the fact that sanctions do not directly, but indirectly affect our country, in general, Armenia has always led a complementary policy. Armenia cannot be a country where geopolitical interests can collide," he assured. According to him, the program identifies the main economic interests within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union, where Armenia has its obligations. "And, of course, those obligations, and those closest ties that we have in the military-political sphere, especially in the field of military cooperation, are both the united group of troops, the Russian military base, and the united air defense system are aimed precisely at ensuring our security therefore, any changes based on the position between Moscow and Brussels, as you said, cannot directly change our vector of relations with Russia, "the Armenian diplomat assured. Touching on the problems with air travel to Russia, rising prices during the closing period of the Upper Lars checkpoint, the ambassador noted that the land connection with Russia passes through the Upper Lars checkpoint and in the summer period there are always problems due to the increased flow of goods. "And this summer period was not an exception, the vacation period is a large flow of tourists, and always the prices for air tickets are multiply growing. But then, it's probably difficult to do anything. And here, probably, it's wrong to use the word ''problem'', since problems with there is no air travel, everything is working smoothly. The problem is that, based on the fact that there is no alternative railway and stable auto-communication, the prices for air tickets are rising sharply. The issue is exclusively price-based, "the diplomat said.
