Friday, 20 February 2009
RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia Grigol Vashadze and a delegation led by him.
The Armenian-Georgian relations were said to be developing in an atmosphere of mutual understanding with all the necessary preconditions available for the implementation of those high-level arrangements reached between the Presidents of Armenia and Georgia which stand high on the agenda of the Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental commission.. The Georgian Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister of Armenia spoke about the successfully developing cooperation and the programs projected in the spheres of power engineering, tourism, transport, agriculture, customs clearance etc. Both sides underscored the need for building a Yerevan - Gyumri-Bavra-Ninotsminda-Akhaltsikhe-Shuakhevi-Batumi highway with the help of the Asian Development Bank. Mr. Vashadze said this motorway is important to his country not only in economic, but also in strategic terms and went on to assure that once back to Georgia he will take up the matter with Prime Minister Nika Gilauri in order the Georgian side steps up the process as much as possible. Grigol Vashadze also promised to address those problems arising at the customs points between Armenia and Georgia in an effort to facilitate border-crossing procedures for Armenian nationals and representatives of business circles.
At the request of his guest, the Prime Minister presented the economic situation in Armenia and the steps taken by his government to counteract the global financial and economic crisis. Then the parties addressed the arrest of a number of Armenians from Dzhavakhk. The Georgian Minister said this had nothing to do with the Republic of Armenia as all those arrested were citizens of Georgia. Their rights are protected by law, they have lawyers and no one is entitled to make comments before the trial.
Conveying warm greetings on behalf of Prime Minister of Georgia Nika Gilauri, Grigol Vashadze forwarded to Tigran Sargsyan his Georgian counterpart’s invitation to visit Georgia at any convenient for him time. The invitation was accepted with appreciation.
