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YEREVAN, May 1-- Armenia and China enjoy broad prospects of cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an Armenian expert said in a recent interview with Xinhua here. "The new Armenian government has declared the start of an economic revolution. The country needs to participate in global economic initiatives, and the BRI is one of the largest," said Mher Sahakyan, head of the "China-Eurasia" Council for Political and Strategic Research Foundation, adding that Armenia should fully make use of the opportunity to expand economic cooperation with China and attract investment. The just-ended second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing is "not a unilateral program, but an initiative in which all countries could introduce their own business plans for cooperation," he said. Within the initiative, Armenia and China can enlarge cooperation in many fields, for example, agriculture, commodity trade, air transportation and building free trade zones, he said. "It is advisable to start negotiations with China to become a full-fledged regional member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)," and this would create opportunities for Armenia to get a loan to finance infrastructure projects, such as its North-South highway and the Iran-Armenia railway. Armenia's small and medium-sized enterprises that import Chinese products and technologies will also be benefited, the expert said. | 
