Wednesday, May 5 2021 15:24

ArmInfo.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will pay a working visit to Armenia on May 5-6, within which meetings with acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and talks  with Acting Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian are planned.

According to the press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the  visit is a continuation of the intensive Russian-Armenian political  dialogue aimed at strengthening multifaceted bilateral cooperation,  maintaining peace and stability in the region.

"It is planned to discuss a wide range of issues of bilateral  interaction, regional cooperation, foreign policy coordination in the  EAEU, CSTO and CIS, UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, BSEC and other  international platforms.

One of the key topics will be consideration of the practical aspects  of the implementation of the Statements of the President of the  Republic of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia  and the President of the Russian Federation dated November 9, 2020  and January 11, 2021, including humanitarian assistance to the  affected population and the restoration of infrastructure in  Nagorno-Karabakh, unblocking of economic and transport communications  in the region ", the message of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of  the Russian Federation reads.

The Russian Foreign Ministry added that the political dialogue at the  highest and high levels is intense. In 2021, the President of the  Russian Federation V. Putin and the Prime Minister of the Republic of  Armenia N. Pashinyan met twice in Moscow - on January 11 and April 7.  In 2020-2021 four meetings of the Prime Minister of the Russian  Federation M. Mishustin with N. Pashinyan took place (January 31,  2020 in Alma- Ata, July 17, 2020 in Minsk, October 9, 2020 in Yerevan  and April 29 this year in Kazan < on the sidelines of the meetings of  the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council).

Cooperation is intensively developing within the framework of the  Russian-Armenian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic  Cooperation. The co-chairs of the intergovernmental commission A.  Overchuk and M. Grigoryan met 6 times this year, the last one in  Moscow on April 26 this year within the framework of the next meeting  of the Trilateral Working Group on unblocking economic ties and  transport communications in the region.

The foreign ministers of Russia and Armenia in 2020 contacted in  Geneva on February 25, in Moscow on October 9 and 12, December 7 and  18, and on November 21 in Yerevan. This year S. Lavrov and A.   Aivazian met twice in Moscow - on February 17 (during the working  visit of the Armenian Foreign Minister to Russia) and on April 1 (on  the sidelines of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers meeting). On  January 20 and April 15-16, a series of consultations took place at  the level of the deputy foreign ministers of the two countries.

Inter-parliamentary ties are developing. The delegation of the  Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation visited on April 24  commemorative events in Yerevan dedicated to the genocide of the  Armenian population during the First World War. Ararat Mirzoyan,  Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, is  scheduled to pay an official visit to Moscow on May 16-18.  Intensive  interdepartmental contacts are maintained, which make it possible to  quickly resolve urgent issues. Meetings of the heads of ministries  and departments are held on a regular basis. There are  intergovernmental commissions on economic and military cooperation,  the Joint Collegium of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and  the Police of Armenia. Productive cooperation has been established in  the field of countering COVID-19.

Russian-Armenian cooperation in the military-political and  military-technical fields contributes to the enhancement of the  security of the Republic and stability in the Transcaucasia. The  Armenian Armed Forces are participating in combat duty within the  framework of the CIS Joint Air Defense System. The 102nd Russian  military base is deployed on the territory of the Republic. There is  an interstate agreement on the Joint Grouping of Troops (Forces) of  the Armed Forces of Armenia and the Armed Forces of Russia.

Russia is Armenia's leading foreign economic partner with a share of  over 26% in foreign trade. In the context of a general recession in  the world economy, Russia and Armenia managed to avoid a serious  decrease in the volume of trade exchange. In 2020, bilateral trade  exceeded $ 2.3 billion, down 9.5%.  Ties are dynamically advancing  along the lines of the regions, in which about 70 constituent  entities of the Russian Federation and almost all marzes (regions) of  Armenia are involved, in the humanitarian field.  Cultural and  humanitarian cooperation is actively developing. About 5 thousand  Armenian citizens receive higher education in Russia, of which more  than 2 thousand are funded by the federal budget. About the same  number of students study in Yerevan at 6 branches of Russian  universities and the Russian-Armenian University. On June 8-11 this  year the VII Russian-Armenian youth forum is planned in Moscow.   Moscow and Yerevan are productively cooperating in the formats of the  EAEU, CSTO and the CIS.  Effective coordination is being conducted on  the main issues of the global and regional agenda, within the  framework of universal and specialized international organizations -  the UN, OSCE, BSEC, and other multilateral forums.