Meeting with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Pashinyan, I am very pleased to welcome you to Moscow once again.

This is an anniversary summit, as we are celebrating the EAEU's tenth anniversary. Cooperation within this international organisation has had a positive impact on all our countries, including Russia and Armenia, throughout these years, as we have discussed before coming into this room. Armenia has seen a very substantial increase in its trade with EAEU countries since 2015. In fact, Russia-Armenia trade has increased by a factor of 14.

As for our bilateral relations, we have also been successful in expanding them. Economic cooperation has invariably been our primary focus. Last year, we saw a substantial increase in trade, largely due to higher imports, or exports, if we look at it from Armenia's perspective. Trade exceeded $7 billion. We have never seen such high levels in our trade and economic relations before.

Of course, our relations go beyond trade. There are regional security matters on our agenda too. We will not discuss them in detail during the public part of our meeting, but we have the opportunity to discuss our relations in all aspects, including regional security matters, on the sidelines of the EAEU meeting.

I am very glad to see you. Welcome.

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan: Thank you very much.

Mr Putin, first of all, allow me to thank you for your warm welcome and the excellent organisation of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting.

Our previous meeting was in December 2023. Since then, several important matters emerged, and we need to discuss them. We have already gone over the economic aspects during the Council meeting. I hope and I am confident that we can now focus on major bilateral and regional matters.

I am delighted to have a meeting with you too. Thank you.

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