Republican Party of Armenia

 At Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan’s invitation, a Georgian government delegation led by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has arrived in Armenia for an official visit.

After a private meeting held between the prime ministers, the two countries’ delegations met in expanded format.

Later today, Hovik Abrahamyan and Irakli Garibashvili met with mass media representatives at the Government Press Center to make a joint statement summarizing the results of the talks.

Below is the transcript of the statements made by the prime ministers of Armenia and Georgia.

Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan: Reaffirming our readiness to further develop the strong ties of friendship and the existing relationship between our two countries, we discussed a broad range of issues of mutual interest, including trade and economic relations, infrastructure development, educational, humanitarian ties and cultural bonds.

A special emphasis was placed on the activities of the Armenian-Georgian Intergovernmental Commission and the need for keeping in touch that is the best way to boost mutually beneficial trade and economic relations between the two countries.

Infrastructure development and transport communications were a highlight on the agenda. A detailed discussion was held over the modernization of border checkpoints, including the building of a new bridge at the Bagratashen-Sadakhlo checkpoint.

We also discussed ways to deal with the aftermath of last night’s landslide at Upper Lars border checkpoint. I offered support from the appropriate Armenian services.

The need to preserve and rehabilitate our rich cultural heritage was underscored on either side.

Wrapping up my remarks, I would like to note that the talks went off in an atmosphere of warmth and constructive approach inherent in the dealings between friendly countries.

Thank you.

Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili: Thank you, Your Excellency. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to offer warm greetings to Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan and extend a vote of thanks for hospitality. I am happy for the opportunity to visit a friendly country - the Republic of Armenia - with which we boast centuries-old friendly relations and cooperation. We agreed on the need to deepen the existing close ties of cooperation between Georgia and Armenia, which is the very purpose of my visit.

We managed to increase the trade turnover by 42 percent over the past 6 months of this year, which points to the fact that the economic exchanges are on the rise, and this trend will be upheld ahead. It is crucial for us to hold bilateral meetings not only at the top level, but also at the level of government agencies.

We talked about stability in the region. In addition, we stated that there is a positive trend in tourism and agreed that everything should be done to promote relationship in this field.

Also, I wish to note that we made an arrangement to build a bridge through joint effort.
Today we learned that there is an interesting initiative - call it the Bridge of Friendship – and we gladly accepted the proposal.

We have talked about issues related to cultural and humanitarian spheres. My counterpart spoke about last night’s landslide in Georgia, which was the second similar emergency. The Georgian side voiced its commitment to fix the pipeline and restore the gas supply within a couple of days.

In conclusion, I would like to say once again, Mr Prime Minister, that we are grateful to you for such a warm and friendly welcome.

Thank you.