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Top Putin Aide Discusses Russian-Armenian Ties In Yerevan

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  • Top Putin Aide Discusses Russian-Armenian Ties In Yerevan

    Top Putin Aide Discusses Russian-Armenian Ties In Yerevan

    Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep.
    June 1 2005

    01/06/2005 09:34

    The chief of Russian President Vladimir Putin's staff met President
    Robert Kocharian and other Armenian leaders in Yerevan on Tuesday
    for talks which officials said focused on ways of ways of shoring up
    economic relations between the two nations.

    Kocharian was cited by his press service as telling Dmitry Medvedev
    that Russian-Armenian business ties are seeing "dynamic development."
    He said it was made possible by an increase in Russian investments
    in the Armenian economy. No other details were reported.

    Russia's share in Armenia's external trade has steadily declined over
    the past decade and stood at a modest 12.5 percent last year. The
    overall volume of bilateral trade fell by 13 percent to about $250
    million in 2004.

    A lack of rail communication between the two countries, which have no
    common border, is seen as a key reason for the drop. That communication
    was only partly restored with launch last March of a regular rail
    ferry service between Russian and Georgian Black Sea ports.

    According to official press releases, issues related to the functioning
    of the ferry link were on the agenda of Medvedev's separate meetings
    with Kocharian's chief of staff Artashes Tumanian and Defense
    Minister Serzh Sarkisian. The latter is also a co-chairman of the
    Russian-Armenian inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation.

    According to Kocharian's office, Tumanian and Medvedev also discussed
    practical modalities of revitalizing five Armenian enterprises that
    were handed over to Russia in 2003 in payment of Yerevan's $100 million
    debt. Armenian officials are increasingly frustrated with Moscow's
    failure so far make promised multimillion-dollar investments in those
    industries. The issue provoked heated debates during a May 17 meeting
    in Yerevan of a Russian-Armenian commission on inter-parliamentary
    cooperation.

    The ongoing construction of a pipeline that will pump Iranian natural
    gas into Armenia was also on the agenda of the meeting between the
    two top presidential aides. But there was no word on what specifically
    the two men discussed. Russia's state-run Gazprom monopoly is directly
    involved in the construction work and had reportedly made sure that the
    future pipeline is not extended to third countries, notably Georgia.

    Officials said Medvedev, who is one of the most powerful figures in
    the Kremlin hierarchy, also discussed the ongoing series of cultural
    events held within the framework of the Year of Russia in Armenia
    that was officially inaugurated during Putin's visit to Yerevan last
    March. Medvedev is the head of the Russian organizing committee for
    those events.
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