YEREVAN, April 7. /ARKA/. Russian President Vladimir Putin told the visiting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Moscow on Wednesday that 40% of all capital investments in the Armenian economy are of Russian origin, the Kremlin press service reports.
“We have a solid trade turnover. At the same time, over the past year, due to various reasons, but above all, of course, because of the coronavirus pandemic, we have seen a slight decline. I am sure that in the very near future we can not only restore this volume, but also move on,” Putin was quoted as saying.
Putin stressed that a working group created by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia to handle the practical modalities of the reopening of transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan is working actively on both sides.
“You support its activities in the most active way, and our Deputy Prime Minister Overchuk regularly visits you in Yerevan. Not long ago you received him, he also reported to you on the trajectory of interaction in the region as a whole after the war,” he said.
The President of Russia noted that the most important component is the possibility of restoring trade and economic ties and transport routes in the region, so that Armenia receive new opportunities for the development of the country.
“In my opinion, this is an extremely important thing,” he said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko in an interview with the Armenian newspaper Novoye Vremya in early April this year said citing Armenian side’s data that Russian accumulated investments in Armenia at the end of third quarter of 2020 exceeded $2.1 billion, or 40% of the total foreign investment. He said direct foreign investments stood at $1.7 billion – 41.7% of the total.