YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan hosted Vice President of India M. Hamid Ansari and the governmental delegation led by him, press service of the Government told Armenpress.

PM Karapetayn and M. Hamid Ansari held a private meeting which was followed by an extended format talks.

Welcoming the guest in Armenia, the PM expressed confidence his visit will give a new impetus to the bilateral economic cooperation and development. “The relations of our peoples have a rich history. Today as well high level mutual understanding and trust are typical of the Armenian-Indian political relations. This year we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and India. Despite the existing high level political dialogue between our countries, still many works need to be done in the economic cooperation field since there is a great potential for it”, the PM said.

In order to increase the effectiveness of economic cooperation, Karen Karapetyan proposed to target two fields – exchange of technologies and agriculture, at the same time considering it necessary to continue the cooperation in the remaining fields that have a potential. “We are ready to ensure necessary conditions for Indian companies to carry out their activity in Armenia. In this context I would like to highlight the Syunik Free Economic Zone which will launch in autumn. Armenia’s membership to the EAEU and the GSP+ trade regime with the EU will provide an unhindered access to other markets. We propose also to consider the engagement of Indian companies in Meridian jewelry, precious stones and watches free economic zone”, the PM said, adding that agriculture as well has a great potential and Armenia is interested in developing the cooperation in this field.

In terms of strengthening the economic ties, the PM attached importance to the “North-South International Transportation Corridor” program, one of the founders of which is India, adding that Armenia initiated a program within this which will enable to carry out multimodal cargo transportations from India to Russia and European countries via Armenia.

In his turn, M. Hamid Ansari highlighted the warm, friendly relations of the two states and peoples. “At each stage of relations our countries found cooperation goals, ways and what existed in the past will continue in the future as well. Today’s world is a world of technologies and we have a growth in terms of adapting to world’s technological demands. India has capacities and is ready to share them with Armenia, including in the fields of engineering, mechanical engineering, information technologies, healthcare, pharmaceutics, agriculture and etc”, India’s Vice President said.

He also considered attractive the proposal to include the Indian capital in the free economic zones of Armenia, stating that they will inform this to the Indian businessmen. “The important thing is that today the Indian business has a capacity and readiness to carry out investments outside India. We will observe and assist so that India and Armenia will reveal new cooperation opportunities in a wider field”, he said, expressing readiness to closely cooperate in the fields of agriculture machinery supply and etc. He stated that India is open and ready for fully cooperating with Armenia.

The sides also talked about issues related to the possibility on establishing direct air communication, the facilitation of visa regime, holding Armenian-Indian business forum, expanding and deepening the mutual partnership in education and culture fields.

Under the presence of Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan and Vice President M. Hamid Ansari a number of cooperation documents were signed between the governments of the two states.