Armenia’s Transport, Communication and IT acting minister, Chinese ambassador discuss cooperation issues

Armenia’s Transport, Communication and IT acting minister Hakob Arshakyan received today Chinese ambassador to Armenia Tian Erlong.

The acting minister highly assessed the cooperation between the two countries both in road construction, IT and telecommunication sectors.

During the meeting Arshakyan also referred to the Tranche 3 construction works of the North-South transport corridor investment program carried out by Chinese company.

He said some issues have raised in the sector, but currently positive changes are being noticed with the construction tempo having considerably accelerated.

Speaking about review of program terms, Arshakyan stressed the importance of involvement of additional forces in the works and noted that it is necessary to discuss the issue of reasonable prolongation of terms in case it becomes impossible to maintain the term fixed in the program.

The Chinese ambassador in his turn expressed China's interest to participate in Tranche 4 be it either construction by a Chinese company or financial participation of the Chinese side with favorable loan conditions. He stressed that the Chinese side is open for each format of cooperation.

During the meeting the parties also exchanged ideas over establishing direct flights between the two countries. The ambassador said the possibility may be discussed in case of increase of the volume of passenger flow in both directions.

The ambassador also highlighted Armenia’s role as a mediator country in establishing economic ties between China and EAEU member states.

Tian Erlong also noted that cooperation in IT sector between the two countries is also very promising and there are still unused possibilities in this regard.

The acting minister offered creation of a platform for meetings of Armenian and Chinese IT sphere representatives for discussing cooperation and establishing business ties.

The ambassador said that every year in fall Shenzhen expo is being conducted which may become such a platform.