YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Following the high level talks between the Government of Armenia and Georgia, Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and Georgian PM Mamuka Bakhtadze met with mass media representatives and issued statements summing up the results of the talks.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the official website of the Prime Minister of Armenia, the statement of Nikol Pashinyan runs as follows,

“Honorable Mr Prime Minister,

Honorable media representatives,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am glad for our today’s meeting. We had very important talks today and set rather ambitious tasks for future development of our relations.

Of course, the relations between Armenia and Georgia are excellent, and we have the task to raise the economic component to fit with our general relations and the emotional level that exists between our peoples. We have regular mutual visits and this will be continued.  

We have discussed numerous issues referring to our relations – transport issues and issues referring to economic and political partnership. I think the key point is that as a result of this visit we will give a new impetus to our political, economic and humanitarian relations.

The Georgian Prime Minister has proposed a very ambitious program and we fully support that program. A concrete task has been set, which is to raise the trade turnover level to 1 billion USD during the upcoming years.  This is a concrete issue around which we can take our positions and have a clear roadmap and go ahead to its implementation by clear and agreed steps.

We agreed that in the near future the session of the Armenian-Georgian Intergovernmental Commission will take place, and a concrete task will be set in front of that commission, and before that the same task will be set in front of our Governments – to develop a clear roadmap for developing our trade and economic relations, our political relations, as well as our humanitarian, cultural and educational relations.

In any case we can record that following each visit the level of our relations rises and the atmosphere becomes more friendly and cordial and friendly relations develop between the Cabinet members which is also very important in terms of interstate relations. This pace should be preserved and we should go forward with confident steps”.

The statement of Georgian PM Mamuka Bakhtadze reads as following,

“Mr. Prime Minister,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It’s a great honor for me that I pay my first official visit as a Prime Minister to a friendly country. First of all I want to welcome and thank for the warm reception. Our countries are famous for their hospitability and this day is the clear proof of that.

This year both Georgia and Armenia mark the 100^th anniversary of independence declaration (1^st republic-edit.). 100 years ago the Georgiana and Armenians, despite many obstacles and challenges, displayed high combat readiness and expressed their position on the democratic path of development.

On September 21 Armenia marks Independence Day, and I convey my congratulations on that occasion. Due to joint efforts following the restoration of independence it was possible to develop mutually beneficiary relations between our countries.

It’s symbolic that a country is able to sum up those works with a new Cabinet. I believe that the relations between us will further deepen in various directions, and our active visits are the precondition for that.

During today’s visit I and my counterpart discussed the main directions of cooperation and emphasized our aspiration for intensive political relations.

We discussed issues over the spheres of transport, energy, tourism, culture, education and innovations and made sure that still we have unutilized potential in many directions.

We will host the intergovernmental commission at the end of the autumn that will discuss projects and important initiatives about how we can deepen our relations in trade and economy.

At the same time we talked about Georgia’s EuroAtlantic integration process and the significant achievements Georgia has recorded in this direction. At the same time we salute the activation of relations between Armenia and the EU.

We agreed to preserve the dynamics of the high level meetings, and at the same time hold sectoral meetings.

I once again thank my colleague and express readiness for effective cooperation”.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan