After the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council held in Bishkek, the meeting between the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin took place.

In his speech, Vladimir Putin, in particular, noted:

“Dear Nikol,

We met quite recently in Yerevan, where you – I think you will agree – successfully held the CSTO summit. Thank you once again for the atmosphere you created for open discussion of many important issues for all of us. We are meeting here today. As always, we use such formats for bilateral negotiations.

Once again, I want to draw attention to the fact that Russia continues to be a leading trade and economic partner – more than 30 percent of Armenia’s merchandise turnover goes to Russia – one of the leading investors, maybe even the main investor, about 40 percent of investments. In the first ten months of this year, the growth of the turnover is 67 percent. This is a very serious, good, positive indicator.

However, there are always questions, and I am happy for the opportunity to meet with you.”

In his turn, Nikol Pashinyan noted.

“Thank you, Vladimir, 

Today we had a quite successful, constructive meeting and in fact, we have already discussed the entire range of economic issues, with narrow and extended formations.

You have already talked about the growth of our mutual trade, which is really impressive. I hope that along with the improvement of the mechanisms of the Eurasian Economic Union, it will be possible to maintain the observed dynamics.

Of course, our agenda is very full. I am sure that today we will also discuss regional issues. Unfortunately, the situation in our region continues to be tense, and I want to note that the main issue in our region, of course, continues to be the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Unfortunately, recently we have also seen an increase in tensions in the area of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh. I’m sure you are aware that the Lachin Corridor was recently closed, and there are very big fears in Nagorno-Karabakh about that. Of course, we discuss these issues all the time. I hope that today we will manage to discuss all the important issues of regional security.”