The meeting was held the day before a session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council.
Excerpts from the transcript:
Dmitry Medvedev meets with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan
Dmitry Medvedev meets with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan
Dmitry Medvedev meets with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan
Nikol Pashinyan: Mr Medvedev, this is your first visit after the major events in Armenia last year, and this, in my opinion, gives added importance to your visit.
The Armenian tradition is to receive the most distinguished guests at home. I am happy to have this opportunity. Our relations have developed steadily during the past year. This does not mean that there were no issues. Now we are facing a crucial point in our relations. I am convinced that we will be able to take our relations to a new level, despite what the pessimists say; or rather, I think we simply need to turn the pessimists into optimists. And we will do everything we can to make that happen.
Currently Armenia presides in the Eurasian Economic Union. Our relations in the Eurasian Economic Union are very important for us, as is our membership in this organisation. We will certainly spare no effort to make the Eurasian Economic Union and our membership in it more effective and to make the organisation more attractive.
Welcome once again. It is good to see you. I believe we will work very constructively and fruitfully together. We have a lot to discuss. Thank you for your visit.
Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Pashinyan,
First of all, thank you for the invitation. Especially at this wonderful time of year. The weather in Yerevan is perfect spring weather, not too warm, very nice.
Secondly, there is really a good reason to meet, which is that the heads of government of the Eurasian Economic Union are meeting. We hold these events on a regular basis and discuss all kinds of issues, including difficult ones. Armenia currently presides in the Eurasian Economic Union. It is certainly important for us to make progress towards solving a whole range of issues on the Eurasian agenda. But this is also a good opportunity to discuss our bilateral relations.
You and I have met before to discuss how things stand. We also met at the beginning of the year, when you came to Moscow as the Prime Minister of the presiding country to kick off your presidency, and we discussed our bilateral agenda. And now we will run through the main points. Our colleagues have prepared several issues for us.
Thank you very much for inviting me to your place for an informal meeting, which is always very valuable. It is an opportunity to get to know each other better and to talk in an informal setting about all the various aspects of our bilateral cooperation. It is my hope that your presidency in the Eurasian Economic Union will be very successful and our talks, along with our colleagues’ talks, will be beneficial for moving forward our bilateral cooperation. Moreover, our countries are allies with a special history of relations and, hopefully, a very good future. Thanks for your invitation once again.
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