During the upcoming visit of of the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs to Armenia, Wang Yi, an agreement would be signed which would allow the citizens of the two country’s visa-free travel, reported the Armenian Radio Free Europe.

It was unveiled that the two sides agreed on the visa-free travel regime during Prime Minister's Pashinyan’s recent visit to China.

Presenting the draft agreement to the cabinet members, Deputy Foreign Minister Grigor Hovannisian said that the agreement will allow Armenian and Chinese citizens to stay in each other’s country visa-free for up to 90 days. He also said that the agreement commits the two states to quickly deport travellers which abuse the new rules. “The signing of the agreement is expected to lead to more active commercial, business and tourism contacts between the two countries and a more effective use of the potential existing in this area,” added Hovannisian.  

Besides agreeing on the visa-free travel, other spheres of collaboration between the two countries are also underway. Minister of Education and Science Arayik Harutyunyan unveiled serious collaboration proposals dealing particularly with artificial intelligence. ''China is among the leaders in this field. Also, there is a proposal to include Chinese as a foreign language in our secondary school curricula. Hence the relations can be said to be developing positively,'' he noted.

At the cabinet meeting, Pashinyan also spoke that Armenia received the highest-level assurances from the Chinese government to make the country's market accessible for Armenian goods, including wines, alcoholic drinks and food products. “Hence, there is a responsibility and a political willingness. No doubt, the Chinese market is open for our goods, and I can additionally give my guarantees that our business people can have their own engagement. The only problem deals with certain established standards to which our business community has to conform,” he added.