During a meeting with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin before the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Tsakhkadzor, Armenia, on August 24, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed hope that the trade turnover between Armenia and Russia will exceed $5 billion this year. 

"At the end of 2022, our trade turnover amounted to $5 billion, and this growth trend continues this year. We have already crossed the $3 billion mark," Pashinyan noted. He thanked the Russian Prime Minister and his Georgian colleagues for their assistance in opening additional lanes at Upper Lars International Automobile Checkpoint (IACP) on the Russian-Georgian border. As Pashinyan recalled, "During his last meeting with Mishustin in Sochi in June this year, the head of the Russian Cabinet of Ministers promised that new lanes at the IABP would soon be opened."

"This has happened, and it is a significant event in our relations. You know what queues used to arise there," the Armenian prime minister said. Pashinyan characterized the Armenian-Russian relations as very strong and expressed confidence that the bilateral cooperation will continue to be fruitful.

Mishustin, in turn, pointed out that unblocking transport communications in the South Caucasus will ensure sustainable development of the region after the 44-day war in the fall of 2020. "We are consistently in favor of unblocking economic, transport, and logistics links in the South Caucasus. And, by the agreements of the leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, I am convinced that the creation of new infrastructure projects will ensure sustainable economic development of the region," Mishustin emphasized.

At the extraordinary session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, Pashinyan stated that several states are showing great interest in cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union. 

The head of the Cabinet of Armenia recalled the main goal of the integration association - the development of economies and raising the level of well-being of citizens of the Union's countries. "In this direction, the EAEU is indeed of great interest. We see some signals that indicate that other states are also interested in further developing relations with the EAEU," Pashinyan noted.

Referring to the bloc's priority tasks, he pointed to the need to create a common gas market within the EAEU. In his opinion, this issue is of fundamental importance. "Another task is the coordination of monetary and financial policy in the Eurasian space. Despite all the challenges and difficult international situation, the EAEU is consistently developing, and the trade turnover within the Union is growing steadily," Pashinyan stated.

"This is one of the few positive nuances in regional issues. But the economy is very important, and now we are focused on the implementation of the EAEU development strategy until 2025, including the implementation of the St. Petersburg Declaration," the prime minister stressed, referring to the Declaration on the further development of integration processes within the EAEU, adopted at the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in December 2018.

Moreover, Mikhail Mishustin said that building the Greater Eurasian Partnership will benefit the EAEU countries, and efforts should be made in this direction.

"The Eurasian Economic Union plays the role of one of the poles of the emerging multipolar world and remains open for new partners. We are well aware that in modern conditions, there is a particular need to increase interaction not only with other countries but also with other regional associations," the Russian official said.

"This is also necessary for building a Greater Eurasian partnership, with the idea of which the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, came up," Mishustin emphasized. "The realization of this strategic initiative will make it possible to create around the union a common economic space of equal cooperation, a wide integration circuit, as well as an extensive network of trade agreements. It will also help to solve major technological tasks more effectively and to establish production chains. I want to urge all of us to get more actively involved in this work," he added.