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Russian PM Visits Armenia

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  • Russian PM Visits Armenia

    RUSSIAN PM VISITS ARMENIA
    By Anna Saghabalian

    Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
    Feb 6 2008

    Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov held talks with Armenia's leaders
    on Wednesday during an official visit to Yerevan which officials said
    focused on ways of boosting economic ties between their nations.

    Some commentators had suggested that Zubkov will use the trip,
    the second in less than six months, to explicitly or implicitly
    express the Kremlin's support for his Armenian counterpart Serzh
    Sarkisian's victory in the upcoming presidential election. However,
    the two prime ministers made no mention of the vote as they held a
    joint news conference after the talks, speaking instead about the
    need to boost Russian-Armenian trade.

    Sarkisian skirted a Russian journalist's question about the possible
    impact of the Armenian election as well as Russia's own presidential
    ballot due in March on bilateral relations. "Armenia is connected to
    Russia by a thousand threads," he said. "It is beneficial for Armenia
    to be friends with Russia. And Russian capital feels comfortable in
    Armenia," he said. "Our relations must get even better and stronger
    in the future," he added.

    President Robert Kocharian also noted "brilliant prospects" for the
    development of the Russian-Armenian relationship at a separate meeting
    with Zubkov. Kocharian was also quoted by his office as praising
    Russia's growing economic presence in his country.

    Both Sarkisian and Zubkov stressed the fact that the volume of
    Russian-Armenian trade soared by 65 percent to about $700 million
    last year and may well pass the $1 billion mark this year. "We agreed
    that the most important problem [in bilateral trade] is transport,"
    said the Armenian premier.

    Zubkov pointed in that regard to the launch in April 2007 of a
    rail-ferry service between Georgian and Russian Black Sea of ports
    which mainly caters for cargos shipped to and from Armenia. He said
    the service will be expanded and "will literally enrich our commercial
    links" in 2008. In particular, Armenia will be able to significantly
    increase exports of cement and other construction materials to Russia,
    he added.

    Zubkov's visit also resulted in the signing of several bilateral
    agreements. One of them envisages a joint exploration and development
    of Armenia's uranium reserves. In a separate statement, the two
    governments also pledged to make joint efforts to improve the safety
    of the nuclear power plant at Metsamor.
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