Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Press Statement & Answers To Journalists' Questions At A News Confer

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Press Statement & Answers To Journalists' Questions At A News Confer

    PRESS STATEMENT AND ANSWERS TO JOURNALISTS' QUESTIONS AT A NEWS CONFERENCE FOLLOWING RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN TALKS

    Office of the President of Russia
    www.kremlin.ru
    Oct 24 2011

    PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Ladies and gentlemen,

    It is a pleasure to welcome to Moscow Mr Sargsyan and this big Armenian
    delegation for the first state visit by the President of Armenia to
    Russia. I am sure that this visit, which, like any state visit, has
    a symbolic dimension, will become a big milestone in developing the
    cooperation between our countries and building up our broad-ranging
    alliance and the friendly relations that have always bound our peoples.

    We examined a range of issues at the talks just now, with priority
    going to bilateral cooperation of course. I have regular contact and
    meet often with Mr Sargsyan. I think that our political dialogue is
    essential for maintaining balanced and substantial relations between
    our countries.

    Our trade and economic ties are developing well. We have clearly
    recovered from the economic difficulties the crisis brought, and we
    expect to see our bilateral trade turnover for 2011 overall exceed
    the pre-crisis level and come to a total of more than $1 billion.

    Big Russian companies continue developing their business in Armenia.

    Our accumulated investment has now reached the impressive figure of
    more than $2.8 billion and is thus coming close to the $3 billion
    mark. Investment cooperation is one of the sectors that will get
    priority attention.

    We are developing cooperation in a broad range of areas. We have a
    high level of energy sector cooperation, and are getting positive
    signals from cooperation in the high-technology sector. We heard
    from the ministers just now about how our investment cooperation
    on a range of projects is progressing. We think that transport,
    communications, and information technology are all very important
    sectors for our work together, and the amendment signed just before
    in the agreement on avoiding double taxation of income and assets
    aims precisely to facilitate development of our trade, economic and
    investment cooperation.

    Our interregional cooperation is showing positive development. The
    first Russian-Armenian interregional cooperation forum took place
    in Yerevan in April. This was a much-needed initiative and I hope
    it will continue, all the more so as around 70 Russian regions now
    have active cooperation ties with Armenia's regions and Armenia in
    general. Our countries' capital cities are also actively developing
    their ties and this is a good sign.

    We discussed our humanitarian ties today. They have their roots in
    history, and I am sure that they will continue to develop well in the
    future, all the more so as the large Armenian diaspora is so active
    in this work.

    The Russian Science and Culture Centre in Yerevan is open and working.

    It is also home to a teaching and methodology centre for Russian
    language study, which was something we discussed just now, and also
    to the Russian-Armenian Innovation Cooperation Centre. We place
    great importance in general on all cultural issues and projects
    to support our national languages. The Russian language remains an
    important tool for communication between peoples, and there can be
    no underestimating the importance of this role. We discussed new
    projects in this area at our talks just before. As far as language
    support goes, Russia will also help to promote and support the use
    of the Armenian language of course, especially in areas that are home
    to large Armenian communities.

    Naturally, we also discussed foreign policy matters, and our foreign
    ministers just signed a large number of documents. Of course we want
    to continue developing our relations within the CSTO. We share very
    similar positions on the main issues on the international agenda,
    and this helps us to work together fruitfully in the United Nations,
    the OSCE, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organisation, and in
    other areas too.

    Strengthening stability in the Trans-Caucasus is another big issue. We
    exchanged views on the current situation in Nagorno Karabakh. My
    personal view is that this conflict can be resolved only through
    political means. Considerable efforts have been made in this direction
    over recent years, including with Russia's participation. I think that
    we must continue to encourage and support the negotiating process as
    a co-chair of the Minsk Group, and organise direct contacts with the
    Armenian and Azerbaijani leaderships.

    I want to thank Mr Sargsyan for today's talks, which were constructive
    and friendly as always. Indeed, we never have any problems, for we
    meet and talk as two friends, two leaders of neighbouring countries
    that are friends and allies.

    * * *

    QUESTION: Mr Medvedev, you said that the ministers reported on the
    bilateral investment projects. What are the prospects for developing
    Russian investment in Armenia? Are there any big new projects in mind?

    In particular, what are the cooperation prospects in the nuclear
    energy sector?

    DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Yes, we heard from the ministers, but to be honest,
    Mr Sargsyan and I, even in our one-on-one meetings, cover all of
    these different subjects with ease because we are familiar with the
    projects and have been discussing them for a long time now.

    Of course a lot depends on investment cooperation. I said just now
    that Russia's cumulative investment in Armenia is approaching $3
    billion, and this is by no means the limit. We are absolutely certain
    that we can develop our investment further. Russian companies have
    become stable suppliers of natural gas to Armenia and are working
    actively in the electricity sector too. Incidentally, the fifth
    generating unit at the Razdan Thermal Power Plant is due to come on
    line soon. This will be, I think, just the latest big event in our
    investment cooperation. I think that our natural gas projects will
    also take our cooperation in the energy sector to a higher level.

    Energy is very important of course, but we cannot limit our cooperation
    to this one sector alone. We realise how important infrastructure
    projects are for our Armenian friends - both real and virtual
    infrastructure. By real infrastructure I mean railways, and there
    are a number of projects currently underway. We discussed them at
    today's talks, including possible new ideas for finding a way out of
    the complicated situation that Armenia is in at the moment. We hope
    that through our joint efforts and with the help of other countries
    too, we will be able to help Armenia build a more modern and perhaps
    even completely new communications system.

    As for virtual investment projects (so called not because they
    are just virtual, but because they are about information technology
    cooperation), this is an area that is developing well. I remember how
    Mr Sargsyan and I inaugurated one interesting project in the area of
    broadband mobile internet at a time when all of this was developing
    a lot slower in Russia. But this is a very good thing. Our Armenian
    friends are establishing a pilot platform, one could say, for trying
    out Russian and jointly-produced information technology. We think this
    is very useful. Even the double taxation avoidance agreement that we
    signed just before will encourage development of investment projects.

    Let me say just a couple of words about the nuclear energy sector.

    This is also an important cooperation sector. These are not cheap
    projects, frankly, and they will require big investment, all the more
    so given the particularly stringent standards applied to nuclear energy
    today. But discussion of this project continues and we hope to agree
    on an optimum scheme for developing our cooperation in this sector.

    QUESTION: Mr Medvedev, regarding the energy projects the European
    Union has initiated in the Trans-Caucasus region, and also the South
    Stream project, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said that these
    projects should not in any way contribute to increasing tension in
    the region and must not create dividing lines. I would like to hear
    your view on this issue.

    DMITRY MEDVEDEV: I agree completely with Mr Sargsyan. Economic projects
    should not create dividing lines, but should strengthen cooperation
    in the region. This is their goal, the goal of South Stream and the
    many other projects that can be carried out in the region.

    All of the Russian Federation's undertakings aim to foster this
    common spirit of cooperation, ease any concerns that perhaps exist,
    and make Russia and the other countries taking part in these projects
    more competitive. Mr Sargsyan was therefore right in his comments,
    and we should encourage all sorts of different projects between
    Russia and Armenia, especially those in which successful members of
    the Armenian community here are taking part.


    From: Baghdasarian
Working...
X