Belarus remains and will remain a reliable partner for Armenia - Andreychenko

22/12/20200 views

Belarus has been and remains a reliable partner for Armenia, stated the Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, Vladimir Andreichenko, at a meeting with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia to Belarus, Armen Gevondyan, who is completing his diplomatic mission in the country, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.

"We sincerely regret that your diplomatic mission in Belarus is coming to an end. However, much has been accomplished during your tenure. You have come to know our country well. I believe that the business and inter-parliamentary ties we have established will be useful in your future work and will be used not only to strengthen the cooperation we currently have but also to develop it further. Our countries have a great deal in common. We share a common history; during the Great Patriotic War, we fought Nazism together and participated in post-war reconstruction. And now, in these challenging times, our countries are working for the benefit of our people," said Vladimir Andreichenko.

The Speaker noted that Belarus has been and remains a reliable partner for Armenia. "And, of course, we count on reciprocity from Armenia as well. Undoubtedly, the foundation is trade and economic relations. And it must be said that especially over the last two years, while you served as ambassador, we have seen good growth in trade turnover. Even this year, despite the pandemic, our trade turnover has increased by 20% in 10 months. Our statistics show $67 million. This is very good," he emphasized.

Vladimir Andreichenko recalled that the intergovernmental Belarusian-Armenian commission on trade and economic cooperation is functioning. "The interparliamentary commission for cooperation between the National Assembly of Belarus and the National Assembly of Armenia also makes its contribution. We regularly held meetings, and specific issues of interparliamentary and economic interaction were always discussed. I want to say that this commission is one of the most active in the Parliament of Belarus. Therefore, we expect that this area of our cooperation will continue to actively develop with the participation of the new ambassador who will work here. I think that you, in your capacity as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, will also pay attention to the work of our interparliamentary commission. I am sure that many issues can be resolved through the commission: in economy, education, medicine, because we still have great potential for cooperation," the Speaker added.

In turn, Armen Gevondyan thanked for such a high assessment of his work. "Thank you for this assessment and for the assistance that I received from you, the Parliament, our interparliamentary commission during these two years of work. Because all this work was built taking into account the deep relations that connect our peoples, taking into account the fundamental principles of interstate interaction that were also enshrined in our Treaty of Friendship between Armenia and Belarus. And, naturally, paying due attention to the interparliamentary component, we proceeded from the fact that the parliament, the people's elected representatives, are the people who receive signals from the grassroots. And we tried in every way to promote and advance trade, economy and interregional cooperation, the cultural and humanitarian component. And, most importantly, to contribute to making contacts between ordinary people as broad, interesting, and multifaceted as possible. To the best of my ability, I will provide maximum assistance to those projects, those initiatives, and, most importantly, to the realization of the potential that we truly have. And we have potential both in the economy and in all other areas," he concluded.