China will donate 200 new ambulances to Armenia soon as part of its continuing economic assistance to the country, the Armenian government said on Thursday.
The government announced the impending donation as it approved a draft Chinese-Armenian agreement on “technical-economic cooperation” at a weekly session in Yerevan chaired by Prime Minister Karen Karapetian.
“After the delivery of these vehicles, the Armenian side will be able to fully satisfy domestic demand for ambulances,” read a government statement issued after the meeting.
The statement noted that the Chinese government already provided Armenia with 88 such vehicles several years ago.
Armenia has received Chinese economic aid on an annual basis ever since 1999. It totaled $37 million between 2012 and 2014, according to the Armenian Foreign Ministry. That included an $11 million grant provided in 2013 for the construction of a Chinese school in Yerevan and the purchase of equipment for the Armenian customs service.
In 2012, Beijing also donated 250 brand new Chinese-manufactured buses to Yerevan’s public transportation system.
China’s President Xi Jinping and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian agreed to deepen ties between their nations then they met in Beijing in 2015. In a joint statement, they noted “mutual understanding on issues relating to pivotal interests and concerns of the two countries.”
A high-ranking Chinese military official visited Yerevan last month, holding talks with Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian and the chief of the Armenian army staff, Lieutenant General Movses Hakobian. The Armenian Defense Ministry said they reached agreements on “expanding cooperation and implementing a number of mutually beneficial projects.”
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