Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Fu Ziying, head of Chinese government business delegation to Armenia, on June 2. Fu met with Armenia VP Armen Gevorgyan, and held talks with Armenian Vice Minister of Economy, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Health, Minister of Energy & Natural Resources, and Vice Minister of Transport & Communication.

Fu said that, China pays highly attention to developing friendly relations with Armenia, and takes Armenia as a sincere friend and reliable partner in the Caucasus region. In recent years, China and Armenia has deepened political trust and strengthened practical cooperation in all fields. Both as developing countries, the two are faced with the same developing tasks, and are complimentary in business cooperation. The two have both made rapid progress in social and economic development. During the decade from 2000 to 2009, the bilateral trade volume has reached US $110 million from US $5.25 million, increased by 20 times. What is worth mentioning is that, against the background of international financial crisis, the bilateral trade volume in 2009 rose against all odds, up by 38% compared with that of 2008, with China becoming the second largest trade partner and the second largest import source country of Armenia. There are constant new achievements in the bilateral investment and economic & technological cooperation. Shanxi Synthetic Rubber Factory—the largest China-Armenia cooperation project, has been put into production in April of 2009, becoming the highlight of China-Armenia cooperation. China will provide economic assistance to Armenia within its reach, hoping to accelerate the social and economic development of Armenia.

According to the Armenia side, in recent years, Armenia-China relations have been developing healthily and stably. New achievements have been reached in cooperation in such fields as politics, economy, technology, energy, etc., and Armenian government pays great attention to developing practical cooperation with China in all fields. Not long ago, when attending the opening ceremony of Shanghai Expo, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met with President Hu Jintao, and reached extensive consensus on deepening bilateral relations. Armenia totally agreed with Fu’s opinion about the bilateral trade and economic relations, and believed Armenia and China has huge potential in trade and economic cooperation. Armenia will join efforts with China to deepen the bilateral trade and economic cooperation in an all round way. The economic assistance provided by China to Armenia has played a positive role in advancing Armenia’s social and economic development, which Armenian people will bear in mind for ever.

The two sides reached consensus in the following five aspects, firstly, to organize enterprises to take part in fairs sponsored by each other, and jointly hold China-Armenia Trade and Investment Forum, so as to strengthen exchanges between enterprises; secondly, China will enlarge import from Armenia, and improve the bilateral trade structure, in order to promote the healthy and balanced development of the bilateral trade; thirdly, to practically promote the bilateral cooperation in such fields as agriculture, high-tech, new energy, etc.; fourthly, to strengthen cooperation in infrastructure field such as transportation, telecommunication, electricity, etc.; fifthly, to give full play to the trade and economic mix committee of the two governments, in order to strengthen communication and coordination.

During the visit, the two sides signed the economic and technological cooperation agreement about China providing free aid worth 20 million RMB to Armenia, and exchanged Letters about China providing ambulances to Armenia. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan attended the signing ceremony.