At the invitation of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has arrived in Georgia on an official visit.

David Zalkaliani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, met the Armenian PM at Shota Rustaveli International Airport of Tbilisi. Nikol Pashinyan headed to the Government of Georgia from the airport, where Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili met him.

The official welcoming ceremony of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia took place. The state anthems of Armenia and Georgia were performed in the presence of the Prime Ministers of the two countries, performed by a military orchestra. Nikol Pashinyan and Irakli Garibashvili, accompanied by the Commander of the Guard of Honor, inspected the military orchestra and Guard of Honor, after which introduced each other to the members of the official delegations of Armenia and Georgia.

Afterwards, Nikol Pashinyan and Irakli Garibashvili held a private conversation.

In his welcoming speech, the Prime Minister of Georgia said,

'' I would like to greet the Prime Minister of Armenia, Mr. Nikol Pashinyan. I am glad that my dear colleague visited Tbilisi today.

I would like to congratulate my colleague once again on his convincing victory in the parliamentary elections. I am confident that he will bring success and development to the Armenian people and Armenia.

Welcome!’’.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said,

‘’ Honorable Mr. Prime Minister,

First of all, let me thank you for the invitation and the warm reception.

It has always been a great honor and pleasure for me to visit the capital of fraternal Georgia, because this is a good opportunity to first communicate with friends and second, to discuss issues of our bilateral, regional and international relations.

I am glad that quite effective cooperation has been established between our governments. I am sure that based on the results of our meeting, the cooperation will become more effective and closer’’.

The private conversation between the Prime Ministers of Armenia and Georgia was followed by an extended-format meeting of the governmental delegations of the two countries. Nikol Pashinyan and Irakli Garibashvili discussed a wide range of issues of the agenda of Armenian-Georgian friendly relations.

The Armenian Prime Minister expressed gratitude to the Georgian side and the Georgian Prime Minister for the efforts made by Georgia for returning 15 Armenian prisoners of war from Azerbaijan, emphasizing that it was a significant contribution to peace and stability in the region. In this context, Nikol Pashinyan highlighted Georgia's balanced position on the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, which should be based on the principles proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. The Prime Minister referred to Azerbaijan's unconstructive policy, anti-Armenian rhetoric, which is a threat to regional stability and security.

The Prime Ministers of Armenia and Georgia noted with satisfaction the significant intensification of high-level bilateral official visits in the last three years, which has given a new impetus to the Armenian-Georgian cooperation.

The parties exchanged views on the domestic political situation in the two countries. Prime Minister Pashinyan noted that for the second time in the history of Armenia the elections are recognized by international observers as completely transparent, free and fair, as a result of which it was possible to overcome the domestic political crisis in Armenia. Nikol Pashinyan noted that the strengthening of the rule of law, including the fight against corruption, opening the era of peace and development for the Armenian people, as well as for the region are the priorities of the Armenian Government's Action Plan.

The interlocutors discussed the ways for further development of economic ties. The sides expressed mutual readiness to increase trade turnover. In this regard, the work of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation between Armenia and Georgia was highlighted, the next sitting of which is scheduled to be held in Georgia at the end of this year. An agreement was reached to continue the ongoing programs, as well as to develop new initiatives in the fields of transport, energy, high technologies and other spheres.

The sides highlighted the five-sided format of cooperation between Armenia-Georgia-Bulgaria-Greece-Iran and the continuous work on the draft agreement on the establishment of an international transport corridor from the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea.

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High-level Armenian-Georgian talks led by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili have ended in Tbilisi.

The Prime Ministers of the two countries met with the media representatives and made statements summarizing the results of the talks. The full text of the statements is presented below.

Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili

Mister Prime Minister,
Members of the delegation,
Welcome!

I welcome my friend and my colleague, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

It is a great honor for me to host him here in Georgia. Once again, I would like to congratulate Mr. Prime Minister on the victory in the recent elections. Of course, it is an excellent opportunity for a new era in Armenia and for the Armenian people. I have familiarized myself with Mr. Prime Minister's new vision, which is focused exclusively on his country's stable development and the Armenian people's prosperity.

Of course, the war in Karabakh has been a challenge for our region, but now, getting acquainted with Mr. Prime Minister's new vision, I am confident that this challenge will transform into a new opportunity, opportunity that will bring prosperity to Armenia and the Armenian people. I want to also say that we attach enormous importance to Armenia's political and economic stability, as it is tied directly to the stability of our country and the region in general.

Consequently, I would encapsulate our common regional goal in three words: peace, stability, and prosperity, something that binds together all three countries of our region. As you know, Georgia has always been an advocate of peaceful cooperation and coexistence in the South Caucasus. And we proved it in deed not long ago. A few months ago, we had an opportunity-namely through my mediation and direct involvement and commitment from Mr. Prime Minister, and through the efforts of the President of Azerbaijan-and we, the leaders of our three countries, succeeded in achieving an agreement on releasing Armenian POWs in return of providing Azerbaijan with maps. This successful precedent gives us an opportunity for optimism.

I reassured to the Prime Minister my full commitment to continuing active mediation toward confidence-building, something very important to us as the cornerstone of our further cooperation. We are open to discuss new ideas for cooperation, new projects. Of course, we discussed issues related to economy, trade, transport, and connectivity, including large-scale projects suggested by Mr. Prime Minister. We also talked about tourism, energy, culture, education. These are the issues we just discussed and have a perfect agreement on.

I want to say that our country has very exciting transit potential, something we also discussed, so that our countries' potential may be used to the fullest.

I want to also note that given the numerous conflicts raging in the course of the past three decades in the region, with some of them still unresolved, our common vision and effort must be dedicated to the region's gradual transformation into a place of new opportunities, development, and peace. This must be our main vision, and we will continue working in this direction.

Once again, I thank Mr. Prime Minister for his visit. It is an honour and joy for us to host him.

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan

Esteemed Mr. Prime Minister,

Firstly, I want to thank you for the warm reception. Of course, our countries and peoples are linked with centuries-old friendship, and I have to continue the idea of Prime Minister Garibashvili that one of the key peculiarities of our todays discussion was that the biggest portion of our today's talks was dedicated to opening an era of peaceful development in our region, something my political force and I discussed with our citizens during the recent early elections.

Yes, we mutually state that, unfortunately, there are many unresolved issues, conflicts and threats in our region, but we try to help each other to focus on the opportunities that exist in parallel. I think that supporting each other in utilizing the opportunities is the very formula that should make risk management more feasible and accessible for us.

Once again, I want to thank Prime Minister Garibashvili for his assistance in the repatriation of 15 Armenian POWs on June 15. During those days, when we were discussing, we called each other dozens of times, it was a pre-election campaign period, and I was even joking, saying that during those two days I communicated more with the Prime Minister of Georgia than with our voters. I think that those two days were very important in terms of forming a new level of personal cooperation between us, and the atmosphere created during those days is an excellent basis for more effective and closer relations between our countries and Governments.

We agreed to reactivate the work of the intergovernmental commission in the near future. I must also emphasize the fact which has been emphasized before. In terms of our relations, it is very important that our countries continue to show their commitment to democracy, to democratic processes, and this, I think, also creates new opportunities for us to develop our relations. In terms of our relations, it's very important that our countries continuously demonstrate their commitment to democracy and democratic processes, which creates new opportunities for the development of relations.

I presented to Prime Minister Garibashvili our proposals and perceptions over regional issues and solutions enshrined in the Action Plan of the Armenian Government. I think there are new opportunities here as well, the use of which is not a reality yet, but we were talking about that we should make efforts to use those opportunities.

Yes, we discussed the existing transit opportunities. By the way, this does not refer to the transit opportunities of Armenia separately, or of Georgia separately. We discussed what we could do to enhance each other's potential. In that sense, now you are aware that programs are being implemented in the field of energy, we are also discussing programs in the field of transport communication, I hope that we will be able to find the most effective option from the possible solutions.

I must state that in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, our specialists have cooperated quite actively and continue to cooperate. Here, too, we have expressed readiness to jointly develop our capabilities to fight against this evil.

Of course, the presence of a large Armenian community in Georgia is a very important factor for our relations. Our position is that the Armenians of Georgia, as full-fledged citizens of Georgia, must continue to serve, be a key factor in the stability, unity, development of Georgia, this is the position we have, we express. I want to thank the Government of Georgia for the opportunities created for the preservation and development of the identity of the Armenians of Georgia. This is a topic that unites us, makes our relations more effective, promising and strategic.

We discussed many issues, and I think it could be noted by the time we spend on the discussions. The agenda of our cooperation is very wide, and the most important recording is the following: we agreed that we should focus more on the results, so that our high-level political dialogue can be reflected by concrete numbers in various sectors of the economy.

Thank you.

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The official visit of Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan to Georgia continues.

Nikol Pashinyan visited Heroes Square of Tbilisi and paid homage accomponied by the Guard of Honor, placing a wreath at the eternal fire.

Afterwards, a meeting between Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili took place.

Salome Zourabichvili welcomed Nikol Pashinyan at the presidential residency and highlighted the official visit of the Armenian PM to Georgia, which shows the high level of political dialogue between the two countries and the readiness to develop multidimensional cooperation. .

The Prime Minister thanked the President of Georgia for the warm reception and noted that he is glad to meet with her again. According to Nikol Pashinyan, relations with Georgia are of great importance for Armenia both in the context of strengthening bilateral friendship and ensuring regional stability.

The interlocutors exchanged views on strengthening the Armenian-Georgian political dialogue, deepening trade and economic cooperation, and strengthening humanitarian ties. The issue of regional stability and security was touched upon. The President of Georgia and the Prime Minister of Armenia stressed the importance of resolving conflicts peacefully.

In the evening, in honor of the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, an official dinner reception will be held on behalf of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.

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The official visit of Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan to Georgia is over.

In the sidelines of the visit, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, President Salome Zourabichvili, paid tribute at the "Heroes' Square" in Tbilisi, participated in the dinner reception delivered on behalf of the Prime Minister of Georgia in honor of the Armenian Prime Minister.

Nikol Pashinyan held high-level talks with Irakli Garibashvili, discussing the agenda of Armenian-Georgian relations. A key topic of discussion was the prospect of opening an era of stability, peace and development in the region. The interlocutors agreed to expand the Armenian-Georgian cooperation, to promote the regional dialogue by joint efforts and programs. In this context, the Prime Minister of Armenia also had a productive meeting with the President of Georgia.

The official visit of the Prime Minister to Georgia ended in Batumi with an informal meeting with the Prime Minister of Georgia, during which the programs aimed at the development of tourism and measures aimed at improving infrastructure were presented to PM Pashinyan. The Armenian-Georgian Prime Ministers expressed satisfaction with the negotiations and agreed to continue active contacts in both official and unofficial formats.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan returned to Yerevan this evening.