YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, ARMENPRESS. H.E. Victoria Baghdasarian, Armenia’s Ambassador to Italy, briefed October 6 President Serzh Sargsyan on the agenda of the economic relations between Armenia and Italy, the ongoing works for the development and enhancement of partnership in sectors of mutual interest such as energy, tourism, education and science, food production and others, as well as the implementation process of recent agreements, the President’s Office said.

Mentioning that this year marks the 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Italy, President Sargsyan stressed that the basis of the Armenian-Italian relations is the joint history – full of numerous friendly manifestations, which is extremely important for strengthening intergovernmental ties. In this context, the President said that it is no coincidence that Armenia has true achievements in almost all branches of cooperation with Italy.

“It’s no secret that Italy is one of our important partners in Europe, also in commercial relations. It’s also no secret that we are deeply interested in enhancing these relations with Italy, because Italy is one of the countries which ensured high development, and our cooperation with Italians brings a new culture of administration for us: modern, efficient administration. We must definitely make great efforts in this sector.

Certainly it is encouraging that our commercial turnover grew significantly in the last two years: in the first half of 2017 turnover grew by almost 26% against the previous year’s same period, while exports from Armenia to Italy increased by 21%. And this speaks about the great potential of these relations.

It is very important that along with this traditional directions, new branches emerge in this relations. We mostly cooperate in the construction and food production sectors, and now new branches are adding – high technologies, energy, and these are major investments. I am simply convinced that a few weeks later the Italians will start realizing our contract on the construction of a new and efficient thermal station, and this is significant for us”, the President said.

The president also touched upon prospects in the light industry field, pointing out that it amounts to nearly 90% in the turnover volume, and Italy is Armenia’s third commercial partner in Europe. “Light industry should generally be rapidly developing”, he said.

“We must explain to Italian businessmen Armenia’s competitive advantages, compared to other countries, I mean also our membership to the EEU”, the president added.

The president also touched upon the tourism sector, mentioning that inbound tourism has already increased by more than 20 percent.

At the end of the meeting the president gave instructions to stakeholder ministries and agencies.