President Serzh Sargsyan participated in the opening of the Shanghai Expo-2010

By the invitation of the President of the People’s Republic of China Hu Jintao, the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan left for China on April 29 to participate at the opening of the Shanghai Expo-2010.

On April 30, President Sargsyan participated at the official opening of the Armenian pavilion.

Later, Serzh Sargsyan toured the pavilions of the US, Russia, and China represented at the Shanghai Expo-2010.

President Serzh Sargsyan participated at the official reception hosted by the President of China Hu Jintao at the Shaghai International Conference Center on the occasion of the opening of Shanghai Expo-2010. The reception was followed by the official ceremony of inauguration of Shanghai Expo-2010.

On May 1, the delegation headed by the President of Armenia visited Suzhou city of Jiangsu province.

In the second largest industrial city of China President Serzh Sargsyan visited Suzhou Technopark - a joint Chinese-Singaporean project, which in 30 years turned Suzhou town into a modern megapolis.

At the Suzhou Techonopark the President of Armenia visited the HIGER bus plant - one of the major industrial units of the Park. Serzh Sargsyan was welcomed by Vice-Mayor of the city Zhao Wey Chan and Director General of the HIGER Corporation Wu Wen Men.

President Sargsyan toured the premises of HIGER and observed the production process.

According to Wu Wen Men, the HIGER bus corporation – one of the leaders of the Chinese auto industry – is planning to enter the Armenian market, thus opening new horizons of cooperation with Armenia.

Later, the President of Armenia visited the Suzhou Center for Sciences, Culture and Arts. He toured the Center and observed the artifacts exhibited in the Center’s museum. After the tour, the Armenian delegation headed by President Sargsyan took a cruise on Lake Jin Ji which is encircled by the Suzhou Technopark infrastructure.

President Sargsyan met also with the Mayor of Suzhou Yan Li. Mr. Li presented to the President of Armenia achievements of the city and expressed readiness to establish and develop bilateral cooperation.

President Sargsyan expressed gratitude for warm reception and stressed the importance of strengthening political relations between Armenia and China with the economic component.

In the framework of his visit to the People’s Republic of China, on May 2 President Serzh Sargsyan met with the President of the People’s Republic of China Hu Jintao.

The President of Armenia expressed his gratitude to President Hu Jintao for the invitation to participate at the opening of the Shanghai Expo-2010 and congratulated his Chinese counterpart on the successful commencement of the Exhibition.

President Sargsyan said that the enhancement of the relations with China is a priority of the Armenian foreign policy and noted that bilateral relations have already shown excellent dynamics of development. The President of Armenia stressed that the high-level political dialogue, active cooperation in social, political, economic, cultural, and educational areas, reciprocal support in multilateral formats increase mutual understanding and trust between Armenia and China.

The two sides noted with satisfaction that multiple joint projects in energy, chemical industry, agriculture, science and technology, defense, culture and education spheres are being implemented with great success. Serzh Sargsyan and Hu Jintao concurred that the accumulated vast Armenian-Chinese experience would serve an excellent base for raising the bilateral relations on a qualitatively new level.

The Presidents discussed issues related to China’s participation in the construction of the Armenia-Iran railroad. They underscored that the launch of the operations of the Armenian-Chinese Shanxi-Nairit joint venture in Shanxi province of China proves that bilateral relations were developing dynamically.

The Presidents of Armenia and China reiterated that they were ready to undertake additional efforts for the further development of bilateral relations.

On May 2, President Serzh Sargsyan, who arrived to China to participate at the opening of Shanghai Expo-2010, received in his residence the Executive Director of Huawei Techonologies Co. Ltd Lin Ru-Chi. In the afternoon, the Armenian delegation headed by the President visited the headquarters of the Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment Company Limited and met with the President of the Company Lirong Shi.

These two companies, which specialize in different areas of telecommunications such as equipment manufacturing, electronic governance, telecommunications systems, etc., are planning to participate in the ambitious telecommunication projects in Armenia.

The President of Armenia and the Head of the ZTE company discussed the possibilities of cooperation. Welcoming intentions of the Chinese company to work in Armenia, President Sargsyan noted at the same time that the Armenian side was ready not only to assist Chinese companies but also participate in the production processes.

President Sargsyan discussed the prospects of cooperation also with the President of Huawei Technologies. This is a dynamically developing company - Huawei is now the world's second-largest telecommunications equipment provider after Ericsson and its patent pool is second only to Intel. Huawei has set a goal of becoming the leader on the world market of telecommunications technologies in the next three years. To that end, the Chinese company is interested in doing business in Armenia. After discussions, the Armenian side signed a memorandum of understanding with the Huawei Company.

On May 3 President Sargsyan attended the inauguration of the Shanxi-Nairit joint venture for production of chloroprene rubber in Datun city of Shanxi province. This is one of the largest Armenian-Chinese economic projects.

Shanxi-Nairit joint venture was created based on the agreement signed in 2003 by the Shanxi Synthetic Rubber Company (China) and Nairit LLC (RA). Armenia holds 40 percent of Shanxi-Nairit’s shares.

The President of Armenia met also with the Governor of Shanxi province Wan Jun. The parties discussed issues pertinent to the expansion of cooperation between Armenia and this Chinese province.