YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan met with Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies of Singapore Tharman Shanmugaratnam on the sidelines of the Davos World Economic Forum, the government told Armenpress.

At the meeting Singapore’s deputy PM highlighted Armenians’ significant contribution to the country’s development attaching importance to the significance of the Armenian cultural heritage in Singapore.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam said Armenia can play a key role in terms of developing the relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and our region. “It’s very important that we have no problems and we are committed to deepening the bilateral cooperation”, Singapore’s deputy PM said.

The Armenian PM said the development path of Singapore is a good example for Armenia. He outlined a number of fields that can be interesting for the Singapore business, in particular, winemaking, organic agriculture, education, information technologies. Importance was also attached to the implementation of educational exchange programs. “We are interested in promoting the talks between the Eurasian Economic Union and Singapore’s free trade zone. Such cooperation can contribute to increase of trade and investments and implementation of mutually beneficial programs”, PM Karapetyan said.

Both officials highlighted the importance of eliminating double taxation between Armenia and Sinapore and stated with satisfaction that the development of the respective agreement is at the final stage.

The Armenian PM invited Tharman Shanmugaratnam to visit Armenia, and he accepted the invitation.