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.