ArmInfo. The Prime Minister of Georgia Mamuko Bakhtadze proposed an ambitious program for the development of the Armenian-Georgian relations, and the Armenian side fully supports it. This was announced on September 10 by the head of the Armenian government Nikol Pashinyan at a joint press conference after the meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze.
The Armenian PM stated that he had had an important conversation with his Georgian counterpart, and ambitious tasks for the development of bilateral relations were set. "Undoubtedly, the relations between Armenia and Georgia are brilliant, and today we face the task of bringing the economic component of our cooperation to the level of meaningful political relations, in accordance with the spirit of friendship between the peoples of our countries," he said, and in this context added that mutual visits of high-ranking officials of Armenia and Georgia are permanent, and they will continue in the same spirit.
At the same time, Pashinyan stressed that he had discussed with his Georgian counterpart a wide range of issues on the bilateral agenda, including economic, political, transport issues. "And the most important result of this visit is that we will give a new impetus to our political, economic, humanitarian, cultural relations." The Georgian PM has proposed a very ambitious project, and we fully support it, and it contains a concrete proposal during the current years to increase volume of mutual trade up to $ 1 bn. There is a clear agreement to pursue this goal. For this aim a meeting of the Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental commission will be held soon, which will be tasked to draw up a roadmap for the development of economic, political, humanitarian, cultural relations. We can state that with each visit the relations are raised to a new level, "Pashinyan said.
It should be noted that according to the Statistics Committee of the Republic of Armenia, the foreign trade turnover between Armenia and Georgia in 2017 was $ 249 million, with y-o-y growth of 1.5%. At the same time, exports amounted to $ 155.2 million with a y-o-y growth of 5.6%, imports - $ 93.8 million, a decline of 4.6%.
Meanwhile, the trade turnover between Armenia and Georgia in January-July 2018 was $ 73.7, a decline of 44.3%. Export amounted to - $ 34.5 million decline of 57.6% compared with the same period last year, imports - $ 39.2 million decline of 23.1%.