MILAN, NOVEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan met with Vice President of Lombardy (an administrative region in Italy) Fabrizio Sala on the sidelines of his official visit in Italy, Armenpress correspondent reports from Italy.

The meeting from the Armenian side was attended by Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Minister of Economy Tigran Khachatryan, Ambassador of Armenia to Italy Victoria Baghdasaryan, PM’s spokesperson Vladimir Karapetyan and head of the Foreign Relations department at the PM’s staff Tsovinar Hambardzumyan.

Welcoming the Armenian PM, Fabrizio Sala said Lombardy is very active in foreign relations and regularly expands the list of partners.

“Thank you for the meeting. I hope it will contribute to strengthening our relations. Our international relations are quite full, I returned from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) yesterday, the President is in China. Today Lombardy is the second in the list of the regions having the most consulates in the world”, the Vice President said.

In turn PM Pashinyan said Armenia’s relations with Italy are entering into a new stage, firstly in economic terms.

“I think there is a great cooperation potential with the Lombardy region, especially in the business field. Last year, when the RyanAir was interested in operating flights to Armenia, a decision was made to start that process from Rome and Milan. Frankly, I was surprised and wanted to understand the reason of that decision. But I understood that there is an economic dynamics which directed the airline to these destinations. During 2019 three major economic projects have launched in Armenia with the Italian participation. I come to a conclusion that when we provide political conditions, the business quickly reacts to them”, the PM said.

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan arrived in Italy on November 20 on an official visit.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan