Following their talks, Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili made statements for the press, which are presented below:

Nikol Pashinyan: Dear Mr. Garibashvili, dear Irakli,
Dear members of the Georgian delegation,

I am pleased to welcome and host you in the Republic of Armenia. It is a great honor and pleasure for me to meet with the Prime Minister of Georgia and discuss the bilateral cooperation agenda in a friendly atmosphere.

The development of special good-neighborly relations with Georgia takes a pivotal place in Armenia’s foreign policy. Our two peoples are bound by many threads. Our centuries-old friendship, as well as the shared values of democracy and the rule of law form a solid foundation on which our partnership rests.

The Armenian community in Georgia, which has centuries-long history, is a bridge that connects our countries even stronger. We have a broad agenda of dynamically developing cooperation. It encompasses a lot of areas.

Today Mr. Garibashvili and I had an opportunity to build on the ongoing constructive dialogue between the governments of Armenia and Georgia. We touched upon the current status and the prospects for developing cooperation in the transport, energy and other important sectors of the economy.

We decided to place even greater emphasis on the development of trade and economic ties. In particular, we noted the need for a more efficient use of regional transport communications and stressed the importance of developing our transit potential. We also highlighted the need to tap the cooperation potential in the field of high technologies. As always, we discussed interaction in education, science, and culture.

We exchanged views on the steps being taken to combat the epidemic. My Georgian counterpart and I also touched upon regional security. We have no doubt that the Armenian-Georgian partnership is a key pledge for ensuring stability in the region. In this connection, I expressed confidence that the Karabakh conflict should be settled as part of the process going on under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship and on the basis of the proposed principles.

Convinced that each conflict has its own peculiarity, I stressed the importance of abiding by a balanced and constructive position on issues sensitive to each other.

Concluding my remarks, I would like to once again welcome our friends and give the floor to my Georgian counterpart.

Irakli Garibashvili: Thank you. It is a great honor for me to be hosted in the Republic of Armenia. Our countries are linked by centuries-long historical ties of friendship. I am confident that cooperation will continue in the same spirit. Georgia and Armenia stand out by their great history, original culture and good traditions.

The future of our countries must be built on the aforementioned values, which should be reinforced by strong state institutions, democracy, transparent governance, economic progress and innovation.

We agreed that this cannot be achieved without lasting peace and regional stability. The global pandemic and the recent Nagorno-Karabakh war posed significant threats for the region in general, but I feel that there is no alternative to peace, negotiations, and dialogue.

Georgia has always been a supporter of peaceful cooperation and coexistence in the South Caucasus, and this policy line will be continued ahead. We are prepared to promote regional dialogue and economic development, trade and humanitarian exchanges.

This is just why the Georgian people opted for the European and Euro-Atlantic path in order to consolidate stability, peace and democratic values.

I would like to note that during today’s meeting we discussed all areas of cooperation. We talked about the prospects for developing trade and economic relations, cooperation in the fields of transportation, energy, tourism, culture, education, and innovation. Despite the dynamically evolving interaction, we can still see room for further development.

Armenia’s stability and democratic development is extremely important for Georgia and the entire region. We are convinced that the early parliamentary elections will be held in an open and transparent environment, and the Armenian people will once again demonstrate to the world their adherence to the principles of democracy.

We expressed readiness to continue our contacts, maintain the dynamics of reciprocated high-level visits and promote cooperation at an interagency level.

Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for the warm welcome and cooperation.