YEREVAN. - Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan on Thursday received the U.S. State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia, Bridget Brink.

“Armenia attaches great importance to the cooperation with the United States and development of strong partnership ties in all the spheres. I am ready to discuss with you all the issues on the agenda of our relations, which are of mutual interest,” the PM said, welcoming the guest.

Congratulating Armenian Prime Minister on his appointment, Bridget Brink stressed that the United States Government is ready to cooperate with Karapetyan, Deputy PM Vache Gabrielyan and other members of the team to work in all possible directions and on the most important issues on the agenda, specifically combating corruption, reforms and deepening of Armenian-U.S. business and economic ties.”

Upon the request of Ms Brink, the PM presented details on the economic development priorities and measures planned to be taken in different sectors. According to PM Karapetyan, the main way to ensure economic growth is to create just, equal and transparent conditions for the business environment and not interfere with it, this function including a number of directions - fight against corruption, reducing shadow, reforms in tax, customs and judicial areas, etc. The PM also noted that it is planned to implement the program in short- and long-term stages.

The Center of Strategic Initiatives will serve as a platform to outline the development directions of Armenia, he added.

Karapetyan attached special importance to the priorities of state governance system, which will allow to form efficient state system and create relevant working environment to involve high-quality governors.

Welcoming the presented programs and reforms, Bridget Brink noted that the U.S. Government is ready to support the Armenian Government as much as possible in their successful implementation.

Apart from this, a wide scope of issues related to the development of Armenian-American ties was discussed. Specifically, the sides referred to the joint programs and actions implemented in the framework of the struggle against corruption.

To fight the corruption successfully, Karapetyan considered it necessary to change the environment contributing to the corruption development, stressing that in the actions planned to be implemented in that direction the Government has put an emphasis on this very circumstance. In this context, the interlocutors underscored the importance of changing the public mentality, actively working towards raising the efficiency of feedback and anti-corruption mechanisms, as well as exchanging experience.

Karapetyan and Brink also exchanged views on the reforms in the judicial area, the programs implemented by the USAID in Armenia, as well as deepening of cooperation in a number of areas with great potential, including agriculture, tourism, energy, informational technologies and mining.