Sargsyan: Strengthening partnership with Georgia is Armenia’s priority

The consistent strengthening of Armenian-Georgian partnership is a priority of Armenia’s foreign policy, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan told journalists today following the talks with Georgian President Georgy Margvelashvili.

According to the Armenian president’s press service, S. Sargsyan thanked G. Margvelashvili for the invitation and warm reception, noting that Armenia attaches great importance to the visit to Georgia. He reaffirmed Armenia’s willingness to work with the Georgian side in the spirit of friendship and mutual understanding.

“The fragile peace and stability in the South Caucasus are mostly conditioned by the effectiveness and strength of Armenian-Georgian cooperation. We have always respected each other’s decisions, realizing that the primary task of each of us is to strengthen our own state and we are glad about it because Armenia and Georgia are strong when they are together,” the president stated.

He stressed that the active political dialog is the best incentive for promotion of economic cooperation.

“Clear directions, including transport and energy, tourism, agricultural processing and other sectors, have already formed in trade and economic cooperation between Armenia and Georgia. We recorded an increase in trade both last year and this year and I am sure that we still have great unutilized potential,” Serzh Sargsyan said.

He stressed the importance of the Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental commission’s activities. According to the president, an agreement was reached to intensify relations.

“Of course, we also touched upon Armenia’s participation in integration processes in the Eurasian region. We informed our Georgian colleagues about the work done in this direction and the further programs, in particular the prospects of mutually beneficial economic cooperation with Georgia. I am convinced that by signing the Association Agreement on June 27 and becoming part of the Free Trade Agreement, Georgia will create an opportunity for those Armenian businessmen who see their participation in European market to invest in Georgia and I also see the opposite: following Armenia’s entry into the Customs Union, there will be an opportunity of making investments in Armenia for those Georgian businessmen who have or can have a market in Russia and other countries of the Customs Union,” Serzh Sargsyan said.

As for regional security, the importance of cooperation in international organizations and a balanced and constructive position on sensitive issues for each side was stressed, the Armenian president noted.

“We together with the Georgian president are unanimous in our opinion that a comprehensive resolution of all the conflicts is only possible by peaceful means, in accordance with the principles of international law,” S. Sargsyan said.

He also underlined the role of Armenian-Georgian humanitarian cooperation.

“I am grateful to the Georgian president who accepted our proposal to give a concert in Tbilisi today to mark the anniversary of our art worker Sayat Nova who art and works are a striking example of cultural complementarity,” the Armenian president said.