Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held private talks with RF Premier Mikhail Mishustin in Minsk. Pashinyan said in his remarks: “Mikhail Vladimirovich, I am happy to meet with you, as several of our potential meetings have been postponed due to the coronavirus. We have a number of important issues on the agenda of bilateral relations. I think that the relations of allied partnership between Armenia and Russia continue to develop as planned. By the way, 2019 was quite a fruitful year, considering that the bilateral trade turnover exceeded the mark of two billion dollars for the first time in the history of our countries: last year we boasted a growth of 14%. The trend continued in January-February, but unfortunately we lost the pace due to the coronavirus. I am sure that we will reinstate it shortly.
It turned out that our meeting coincided with the recent escalation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. I hope you are aware that for reasons as of yet unknown to us the Azerbaijani side decided to shell the Armenian border. I will give you information about it and the current situation. I wish to emphasize that these events came against the background of the provocation of a third party, and it remains to see who is interested in what and why. I think today we will discuss this very important topic.”
In turn, the head of the Russian government said, “Thank you, dear Nikol Vovayevich. I am glad to see you, too. We last met in Almaty in January. Unfortunately, the epidemic affected our cooperation with our partners, including Armenia. Bilateral trade has declined slightly for objective reasons due to the coronavirus, but I do hope that through joint efforts we will be able to achieve sustainable growth by the end of this year, for which there are all necessary prerequisites. As regards our cultural, humanitarian, historical ties, we continue to implement the planned events. The four freedoms you spoke about today are the symbol of our Union, they will be given a new development within the framework of the agreements we achieved today.”
During the meeting, the parties discussed the agenda of Armenian-Russian economic cooperation and other issues of mutual interest.
