The first meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin took place today at the EEU Intergovernmental Council meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

After the official handshake and photoshoot, Pashinyan took his smartphone out of his pocket and proposed to take a selfie.

Mishustin liked the idea, and he asked how they say “selfie” in Armenian. Pashinyan laughed, responding: “'Selfie' is an Armenian word.”

"There have been and will be warm relations between our countries and governments," Pashinyan said. "But I think we always have a chance to raise the level of relations, and we will succeed in working with you."

He noted that the relations between the two countries are developing, their mutual trade has approached 2 billion in 2019, and this dynamics will be maintained in 2020.

"In Armenia, we managed to create quite good economic dynamics in 2019," Pashinyan added. "I hope that your government will support the economic dynamics that currently exist in Armenia."

"Russia and Armenia are linked by very close partnership, allied relations," Mikhail Mishustin said, in turn. "The new makeup of the Russian government is determined to continue our constructive relationship."

Mishustin reminded that Russia is Armenia's leading foreign economic partner.

"In 2018, bilateral commodity turnover increased by 11 percent to about $2 billion, and growth continued last year," Mishustin said. "We need to reinforce the positive trend."