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“Armenia-Switzerland” business talks kicked off today in Yerevan, Armenia.

The business meeting organized by the Development Foundation of Armenia (DFA) on the sidelines of the official visit of the President of the National Council of Switzerland Dominique de Buman has brought together 35 businessmen from both countries mainly representing the pharmaceutics, IT, financial, wine-making, tourism, and transport sectors.

Vache Gabrielyan, the Vice Prime Minister of Armenia, wished a fruitful work to the businessmen in his opening remarks, noting substantial discussions will enable them to study all the advantages stemming from the economies of the two states.

He highlighted Switzerland has made sizeable achievements in scientific, industrial and other spheres, but Armenia also has a lot to offer to its Swiss counterparts. “Armenia has a rich history, an interesting strategic location and is engaged in privileged trade regimes that gives the country great advantages. We hope the discussions will result in new projects,” the official said.

Mr. Dominique de Buman noted the Armenian-Swiss economic relations have further deepened in recent years as evidenced by the 2017 statistics.

According to the Swiss official, his first visit to Armenia was ten years ago. He now sees and assesses the positive dynamics in Armenia’s economy.

“This should allow Armenia to have such an economic state for the people to stay here,” he said, adding that it is necessary to develop the industry, agriculture and renewable energy spheres to this end.

Armen Avak Avakian, the DFA CEO, pointed to the establishment of the Chamber of Commerce Switzerland-Armenia a few months ago, expressing hope it will contribute to the deepening of economic cooperation between the two countries.

He next referred to the significant growth of trade turnover recorded between Armenia and Switzerland in 2017, noting it increased by nearly 3,5 times compared to the previous year’s figures. The official said watchmaking and agriculture are today’s priority directions of cooperation.

“The cooperation between Armenia and Switzerland has a great potential, and we expect that the opportunities available for economic cooperation will be fully used, "said Avak Avakian.