Volodymyr Lytvyn, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of
Ukraine, calls for making Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation between Ukraine and
Armenia Meaningful
Within the official visit of Ukrainian parliamentary delegation to Armenia, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Lytvyn met Mr Hovik Abrahamyan, Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia.
Speakers of Ukrainian and Armenian parliaments discussed development of economic cooperation. It was suggested to open a Ukrainian Trade House in Armenia and an Armenian Trade House in Ukraine. "It will be a significant event, as Ukraine is the second partner of Armenia among the CIS member states behind Russia," V.Lytvyn stressed.
The parties noted the growth of external trade turnover between Ukraine and the Republic of Armenia which totaled USD 238,71 million in 2010 (larger by USD 29 million or 13, 8% in comparison with 2009). For the first quarter of 2011, total external trade turnover between the countries increased by 34,9 % in comparison with the respective period of 2010.
According to the Head of the Parliament, this figure should reach USD 300 million by the end of 2011. He believes that recommendations and proposals of the inter-governmental Ukrainian-Armenian panel on economic cooperation and Ukrainian-Armenian business forum held in Kyiv on July 1-2, 2011 should help reach the planned results. "We should analyze the organizational measures to make our plans, intentions and agreements meaningful," he stated. "It concerns development of cooperation in the transport and energy sectors, agricultural complex, and investment environment."
Speakers of Ukrainian and Armenian parliaments discussed support of the Armenian community in Ukraine which includes 400 thousand members. V.Lytvyn assured his counterpart that Ukraine takes effort to make Armenians in Ukraine feel comfortable and satisfy their spiritual and cultural needs.
Speakers of Ukrainian and Armenian parliaments called for boosting
parliamentary cooperation between the parliaments, committees, groups of
friendship and political factions.