Russian Foreign Ministry presented details of agenda of upcoming  meeting Lavrov-Mnatsakanyan

ArmInfo. The Russian Foreign Ministry presented the details of the agenda of the forthcoming meeting of the heads of the foreign affairs agencies of the Russian  Federation and Armenia Sergey Lavrov and Zohrab Mnatsakanyan.

According to a report published on the website of the Russian Foreign  Ministry, on June 7, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold  talks with his Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, who will be  in Moscow on a working visit.

It is planned to discuss a wide range of issues of bilateral  cooperation in the context of the outcome of the meeting of the  Russian president  Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol  Pashinyan on May 14, 2018 in Sochi on the sidelines of the meeting of  the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. Particular attention will be  paid to the issues of the international agenda, integration  cooperation within the framework of the EAEU, the CSTO and the CIS,  coordination at the UN, OSCE, BSEC and other authoritative  international and regional forums

There will be an exchange of views on the issues of the  Nagorno-Karabakh settlement (NKS), in which Russia, along with the  other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, plays an active mediating  role.

Between Moscow and Yerevan, a high level of foreign policy  coordination has been achieved. The positions of Russia and Armenia  on issues of the international and regional agenda are close or  coincide.  Intensive contacts through the foreign ministries of the  two countries promote coordination in the foreign policy sphere,  including within the framework of the UN, the Eurasian Economic  Union, the CIS, the CSTO, the OSCE and other multilateral  organizations.

Russian-Armenian relations develop on the basis of the principles set  forth in the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance  between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia of August  29, 1997 and the Declaration on Allied Cooperation between the  Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia, oriented to the 21st  century, from 26 September 2000.

The political dialogue is at the highest level. In 2017, three  full-fledged meetings of the heads of the two states took place (in  Moscow on March 15, in Sochi on August 23, in Moscow on November 15).

Regular contact between the governments of the two states is  maintained. October 24-25, 2017 Prime Minister of the Russian  Federation Dmitry Medvedev visited Yerevan on an official visit.

Inter-parliamentary ties are expanding. On February 14 of this year,  the Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia, Babloyan, visited  Moscow. June 4-5 this year he was again in Russia to participate in  the International Forum on the Development of Parliamentarism, where  he met with the heads of the chambers of the Federal Assembly of the  Russian Federation, Matvienko and Volodyn.

Joint meetings of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the  National Assembly of Armenia with the Council of Federation Committee  on International Affairs (March 13-14) and the State Duma Committee  on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots  were held in Yerevan (March 24-26, ). The Interparliamentary  Commission for Cooperation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian  Federation and the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia  operates.

In 2017, Russia and Armenia celebrated the 25th anniversary of the  establishment of diplomatic relations (April 3) and the 20th  anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation  and Mutual Assistance (August 29). Russia is Armenia's leading  economic partner (share in foreign trade is 26.7%).  Bilateral trade  increased in 2017 by 29.7% to $ 1.74 billion (in 2016 - $ 1.34  billion). In the current year, positive dynamics remains: in  January-March this year trade increased by 38.5% - up to 513.4  million dollars.

The Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation is actively  working (the 18th meeting was held on February 19-20 in Yerevan, the  next - it is planned for 2019 in Russia). The volume of accumulated  Russian investments in the Armenian economy is 1.8 billion dollars,  which is about 35% of all foreign investments). About 2,2 thousand  enterprises with Russian capital work in the republic. The largest  Russian investor in the Armenian economy is <Gazprom>. The company  invested about 800 million dollars in gas- energy projects in  Armenia; completed the construction and modernization of the 5th  power unit of the Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant; is engaged in the  reconstruction of the country's gas transportation system and fully  meets its needs for natural gas. SC "Rosatom" is working to extend  the life of the Armenian nuclear power plant at the expense of  Russian credit.

The introduction of Armenia in January 2015 into the Eurasian  Economic Union made a new dynamic for bilateral ties. On February 1,  2016, the former Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan is  chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission. Russia  provides technical and financial assistance to the republic's  adaptation to the conditions of the Union. The intergovernmental  agreement of May 21, 2015 provides for this purpose to allocate up to  42 million dollars for three years. Interregional ties are actively  developing, involving about 70 subjects of the Russian Federation and  practically all administrative- territorial units of Armenia. The  Program of cooperation in this sphere is being implemented for 2016-  2021.

On October 5-7, 2017, the sixth Russian-Armenian inter-regional forum  and the second International Forum of Eurasian partnership were held  in Yerevan. The next one is scheduled for June 29 this year. and will  be held in the capital of Armenia.

Traditionally, an important place in bilateral relations is occupied  by cultural and humanitarian exchanges.  On November 15, 2017, the  Presidents of the two countries took part in the opening ceremony of  the Days of Armenian Culture in Russia at the State Tretyakov  Gallery. The corresponding events took place in Moscow, St.  Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnodar, and in a number of other  Russian cities. On December 20, 2017, the branch of the Russian  Center for Science and Culture in Gyumri began its work.