Armenian FM Visits Georgia
On July 3, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan, arrived in Georgia on an official visit. He met with the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, and his Georgian counterpart, Ilia Darchiashvili. The Georgian and Armenian foreign ministers held a press conference following the meeting. According to his schedule, the Armenian FM also laid a wreath at the Heroes’ Memorial in Tbilisi.
Meeting with PM Kobakhidze
According to the Georgian government administration, the meeting focused on the cooperation directions outlined in the joint declaration on the bilateral strategic partnership. The discussion also emphasized the significance of leveraging existing potential to enhance trade and economic relations further.
PM Kobakhidze reaffirmed Georgia’s readiness to contribute to a constructive regional dialogue to promote a safe and stable environment. The parties also touched upon cooperation in the fields of tourism, culture, and education, among other issues.
Meeting with Speaker Papuashvili
According to the Parliament of Georgia, the parties emphasized the strong ties between both governments and legislative bodies. They also stressed the importance of parliamentary diplomacy for further deepening bilateral cooperation.
“Regional peace issues were also discussed at the meeting. Attention was drawn to the importance of signing the peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia to ensure peace and prosperity in the region. Ararat Mirzoyan expressed gratitude for Georgia’s readiness to promote regional peace,” the Georgian Parliament said.
Meeting with FM Darchiashvili
During the meeting, the Georgian FM, like the Speaker of the Parliament, thanked FM Mirzoyan for Armenia’s support for the UN General Assembly resolution on the right of Georgian IDPs and refugees to return to their homes. According to the Georgian MFA, Minister Darchiashvili said that Georgia and Armenia firmly support and respect each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
“We talked about current processes in the region, about existing challenges and opportunities. We emphasized the importance of our joint efforts in the process of dealing with these challenges. Georgia firmly supports stability and peaceful coexistence in the South Caucasus. We are ready, within the needs of our neighbors and within our capabilities, to continue to contribute to the promotion of constructive dialogue and the provision of stability and peace in the region,” FM Darchiashvili said. He also welcomed the “historic” decision about starting the delimitation between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“Our relations are truly developing rapidly, and we have a rich agenda,” the Armenian FM said during the press conference, adding that the two countries are engaging across various fields, including economy, security, education, culture, tourism and people-to-people contacts.
“Armenia and Georgia have also affirmed at the highest level their mutual recognition and respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. We consider it important that a clear mutual understanding has been established between our countries to continue and complete the delimitation and demarcation process in a friendly and cooperative manner,” Minister Mirzoyan said.
He also mentioned Georgia’s receiving of the EU candidacy, saying it is “of great importance” not only for the bilateral relations, but also in the context of the regional developments. He said that “Armenia also has a substantial, essentially new partnership with the EU, a new partnership agenda, and we are discovering horizons together with the EU which were undiscovered until now, at least in the context of Armenia-EU relations, let me put it this way: we are discovering, we define new perspectives and new visions.”
Minister Mirzoyan said Armenia remains committed to normalizing relations with its neighbours, including Turkey. The Armenian FM said his country is ready to “completely” normalize relations, establish diplomatic relations with Turkey and open the Armenia-Turkey border. As for the relations with Azerbaijan, he noted that Armenia attaches “great importance” to the delimitation based on the agreed principles.
Speaking of developments in the Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, the Armenian FM also mentioned the importance of unblocking transport infrastructure, saying it will also benefit economically the regional countries and the wider region.
This article was updated at 12:15 on 05/07/2024 to reflect the Armenian FM’s statement.
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