Armenian, Georgian prime ministers discussed development of economic relations

YEREVAN, September 8, /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has arrived in Georgia on an official visit on Wednesday and Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili discussed ways to boost relations between the two neighboring countries, the press office of Pashinyan said.

It said the tete-a-tete conversation between Pashinyan and Garibashvili was followed by talks involving government officials on both sides.

Pashinyan was said to have praised Georgia for its balanced position on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which he said should be based on the principles proposed by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. Pashinyan said also that Azerbaijan's destructive policy and the anti-Armenian rhetoric pose a threat to regional stability and security.

The Prime Ministers of Armenia and Georgia noted with satisfaction the increasing high-level bilateral official mutual visits over the past three years, which have given a new push to the Armenian-Georgian cooperation.

The parties exchanged also views on the political situation in the two countries and discussed ways to boost economic ties. The bilateral readiness to increase the foreign trade was emphasized. In this regard, they attached importance to the Armenian-Georgian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, the next meeting of which is scheduled to be held in Georgia at the end of this year.

An agreement was reached to continue the current joint programs, as well as to develop new initiatives in the fields of transport, energy, high technologies and others.

The importance of the five-sided cooperation Armenia-Georgia-Bulgaria-Greece-Iran and the ongoing work on the draft agreement on the creation of an international transport corridor from the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea was noted. -0-