Monday, September 10 2018 17:21

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%.