Armenia sees good opportunities for cooperation with Georgia in energy, transport and agriculture – deputy PM

YEREVAN, JUNE 28, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and Georgia have passed together through various challenges of history, the civilizational heritage uniting the two peoples is significant, Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Avinyan said during the Armenian-Georgian business forum in Dilijan on June 28.

“Our peoples have been famous for their business talent for centuries. Today the task of governments is to create an environment which will create a victorious situation for the Armenian and Georgian businessmen and will enable to enrich our common history with joint initiatives. After summing up the results of the session of the Armenian-Georgian Inter-Governmental Commission, we are launching the works of the Armenian-Georgian business forum in a warm atmosphere. We attach great importance to the effective holding of the forum, being convinced that the cooperation results between the business circles will be visible in a short period of time and will contribute to the growth of welfare of the two peoples”, the Armenian deputy PM said.

He stated that the two countries are holding quite an active dialogue at various levels. “We deeply believe that our economic cooperation has a huge potential, and our task is to contribute to completely utilizing this potential. It’s obvious that this business forum is one of its best forums. The mutual relations between the business communities play a principled role in forming and developing the inter-state economic ties”, Avinyan stated.

According to him, this forum will enable the Armenian and Georgian businessmen to more thoroughly get acquainted with the economic climate, investment opportunities of the two states, and of course, will contribute to the establishment of business ties with the representatives of various sectors. “This is a very positive phenomenon and, of course, we expect to see very tangible results in the future. While observing the current level of the Armenian-Georgian economic relations, it becomes obvious that the practical cooperation has not yet reached the desirable level, and there is a need to expand it. In this sense we see good opportunities for the cooperation in energy, transportation and agriculture fields. There are also opportunities for joint cooperation in tourism field, in particular, through the development of joint tour packages between the tour agencies of the two states. We believe that the effective partnership between the Armenian and Georgian businessmen can positively affect the development of tourism in Armenia and Georgia”, the deputy PM said.

He noted that today the Armenian government is initiating a number of reforms aimed at improving the business climate and creating favorable conditions for foreign investments. “We want to create an innovative and inclusive economic system which will maximally use the creative potential of our people. We have already recorded some achievements in this regard, and if I mention only some of them, taking into account all the political processes held last year, 5.2% GDP growth has been registered in Armenia. In the first quarter of this year the GDP growth comprised 7.1%, the economic activity index in April was 9.2% and 7.3% in May”, he said.

Tigran Avinyan said Armenia’s membership to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) opens new prospects for foreign investments, enabling to enter into the EAEU market via Armenia.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan