YEREVAN, JANUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Last year was important in terms of deepening the Armenian-Georgian cooperation, expert in Georgian studies Joni Melikyan told reporters on January 19, reports “Armenpress”.

“Visits of high-ranking officials of the two countries were held. Armenia’s Defense Minister and Foreign Minister visited Georgia, and in September Georgia’s Prime Minister arrived in Armenia which was very important. As a result of the Georgian PM’s visit, agreement was reached over the construction of Armenian-Georgian friendship bridge which will further boost the trade-economic ties of the two countries”, Joni Melikyan said.

He said the Armenian-Georgian close cooperation is expressed in a number of key sectors, such as tourism, trade-economic ties, energy sector. “According to official data, 1 million 456 thousand Armenian tourists visited Georgia in 2016, with this figure Armenia is the second and Azerbaijan is the first. The number of Azerbaijani tourists visiting Georgia exceeded the number of Armenian tourists by 200.000. Another important event on deepening cooperation in the energy field took place last year. The talk is about the agreement on creating common energy bridge reached between Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Iran which will enable them to unite the energy systems and to be exchanged with power which in its turn will boost cooperation in various sectors”, the expert said.

He said Armenia for a long time is among Georgia’s top ten trading partners. The trade turnover between Armenia and Georgia in 2014 comprised 156 million USD, whereas in 2015 it was 189 million USD, recording a 17% growth. The expert said this figures prove that the two countries year after year are deepening the trade-economic cooperation.

Joni Melikyan attached importance to the Armenian-Georgian cooperation in the military sector. He said Georgia attaches importance to the regional security since they want to increase the foreign investments, and the regional security and stability is a key precondition for that. “Last year Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan visited Georgia. During the visit military cooperation agreement was signed between Armenia and Georgia. Although Georgia makes active efforts to be integrated with NATO, and the cooperation in the military sector is limited to some extent, there are directions where the two countries can cooperate”, the expert said.

Joni Melikyan supposes that after the elections in Armenia, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan will visit Georgia which will further intensify the bilateral cooperation.

Armenia and Georgia have established diplomatic relations on July 17, 1992.