On June 16, Mr. Samvel Nikoyan, Vice President of the National Assembly met with Mr. Sergey Vinokurov, Head of the Department for Interregional and Cultural Ties with Foreign Countries under the Russian President. Mr. Gegham Gharibjanyan, Chief of the Staff of the National Assembly also participated in the meeting.

Mr. Sergey Vinokurov once again highlighted the position of the Russian side to be a strategic partner of Armenia. Highly praising the cooperation in political, military, economic, cultural and other areas, the Russian authority highlighted the warm relations, established between the leaders of Armenia and Russia, considering them a good impetus for more enlivening of the ties. According to Mr. Samvel Nikoyan, Vice President of the National Assembly, the strategic partnership and friendship between the two countries should be preserved and developed. In particular he talked on activating the ties between the parliaments.

There was a touch in detail upon the program “Estate for Debt.” The Vice President of the National Assembly expressed concern on inaction of the enterprises, given to Russia, noting that it is not favourable for both sides. The representative of the RF agreed that the issue was in the center of their concern and that during the last 1.5 years they have taken serious measures to recover the situation. In particular audit observations are being conducted in those enterprises, as well as candidacies of trustful investors are being observed.

Cooperation of the representatives of the two countries in this area Mr. Nikoyan assessed as not satisfactory. Cooperation within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization was touched upon during the meeting. The interlocutors touched upon the issues, related to the life style and legal status of the Armenians in the RF.

The Vice President of the National Assembly expressed hope that Russia would have a great role in constructing the Iran- Armenia rail way.

At the end of the meeting the Vice President of the National Assembly, Mr. Samvel Nikoyan thanked the Russian side for allotting Armenia credit of 500m USD, in spite of the world financial crisis.