Armenia’s foreign policy is actively developing both towards the West and the East, which is quite unusual, the director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Armenia Ruben Safrastyan told reporters on Wednesday.

According to him, the development of relations with China is of interest not only from an economic point of view, but also civilizational.

“These are ancient countries that have a very rich, ancient history and culture and must maintain a high level of relations with each other, which comes from their common interests,” he said.

Asked to comment whether Armenia might be interesting for China, the expert answered that the Chinese foreign policy is aimed at maintaining good relations with the surrounding countries. Beijing is implementing a policy of preserving and developing harmonious relations with all countries, and not only neighboring ones.

According to him, China is interested in Armenia’s foreign policy, in particular with regard to Turkey and its other neighbors. This is due to a certain interest of China towards Turkey, since the latter, to a certain extent, is one of the main competitors of China in the international market. In addition, the Chinese are also interested in the experience of Armenian experts with the Middle East, since Beijing does not have such rich experience of interaction with this region.