Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan has said that Russia is Armenia’s main economic partner.

20% growth was recorded in the trade turnover between the two countries in 2010, Sargsyan said at the opening of First Armenian-Russian Interregional Forum in Yerevan.

He noted that in modern times Armenia and Russia have always supported each other in hours of need. Sargsyan also expressed gratitude for the prompt allocation of a loan by Russia during the global financial crisis.

Russian Minister of Transport, Co-Chairman of the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission Igor Levitin noted for his part that Armenia-Russia ties have reached a new level over the past years.

“We have managed to overcome consequences of the global economic crisis, increase the trade turnover between the countries,” he said.

Levitin said that Armenia and Russia have implemented many joint programs in both economic and humanitarian fields, attaching importance to negotiations on construction of a new energy unit of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant.

The Minister noted that the next sitting of the intergovernmental commission will be held in Russia in the third quarter of 2011.