Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr Sargsyan, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome. I know that you have come here to attend festivities, but I’m happy to have this opportunity to meet with you and discuss the development of our relations, above all in the economy.

Russia has long been Armenia’s leading trade and economic partner, and I will not spend much time talking about our trade. It stands at a good level. Unfortunately, it declined a bit in 2009 as a result of the crisis, but it has been recovering rapidly. Even in 2009, Russian direct investment in Armenia’s economy increased, and currently stands at about $3 billion, $2.8 billion to be exact. It means that in 2009 it increased by $500 million. Last summer, in June if I’m not mistaken, we also issued an additional government loan of $500 million to Armenia. We hope that this loan helped and was received in good time in order to create stability in the social sphere and the economy. Russia’s largest companies are working actively in Armenia’s market. And we are thankful to you and the Armenian government for creating favourable conditions for this work and for this cooperation. I’m glad to see you here. Welcome!

Serzh Sargsyan: Thank you, Mr Putin. I, too, am glad to have this chance to meet today. I am pleased to say that the Armenian-Russian strategic partnership is developing stably. Russia remains Armenia’s leading trade and economic partner. You correctly noted that our bilateral trade has risen 12% this year. Last year we received over 500 million in investments. This year we receive investments, too. Our long-standing economic ties are also reinforced by the projects that we are currently implementing. I’m referring to the construction of a new unit at the Metsamorskaya nuclear power plant and the modernisation and expansion of our railway system. There have been large, long-term investments in the communications sector. We are developing very well.

I would like to thank you once again for granting us the government loan. Without this money, we probably would not have been able to recover this year. And we have been recovering this year. At the same time, just like Russia, our agriculture has been facing hard times due to the weather. While our industrial growth is about 10%, we are experiencing a decline of between 17% and 18% in agriculture. But we sincerely hope that in cooperation with Russia – seeing as our main enterprises are either joint ventures with Russia or funded entirely by Russian capital – we will recover from the crisis. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Sargsyan, while we are also experiencing serious difficulties in our agricultural industry this year due to the weather, we have nevertheless responded to the call of our Armenian friends and delivered 1,000 tonnes of wheat seeds to Armenia this September so that fields can be sowed in time and yield a good harvest next year. We are prepared to continue our cooperation in this area. We are aware of Armenia’s needs and will continue coordinating all these issuesl.

Serzh Sargsyan: Thank you very much.