Salome Zourabichvili: It is important for us that regional conflicts  do not move to the territory of Georgia

ArmInfo. Armenia and Georgia live  in a region where peace and stability are at the forefront of  economic growth. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili expressed  this opinion at a joint press conference with Armenian President  Armen Sarkissian.

According to her, Armenia and Georgia are not only neighbors, but  also friends. "There are many challenges in our region and it is  important to know that the main way is the peaceful resolution of  conflicts based on the norms of international law. We are deeply  convinced that conflicts should be resolved through dialogue and  negotiation," she said. Salome Zourabichvili stressed that for  Georgia it is important that regional conflicts do not move into the  country. "It is extremely important for us that the people living in  Georgia - Armenians and Azerbaijanis live peacefully and be  integrated as much as possible into the political, cultural and  economic life of the country," she said.

At the same time, the president noted the importance of raising the  level of studying the Georgian language by the Armenian population so  that they are full participants in the development of the country.  The presidents, as she pointed out, spoke about the potential of the  two countries in the region, talked about the visit of Salome  Zourabichvili to the EU and the plans of Georgia towards the EU. "The  most important stage will be the Batumi Conference, where our vision  of the new stage of relations with the EU, which will lead to final  integration, will be presented," she said.

On this path, as the President stressed, it will be important to  develop cooperation with the new Armenia and hear about the vision of  the republic at the conference, where President Armen Sarkissian was  invited.  In addition, as the President said, the heads of the two  countries noted tourism, high technologies, energy, transport  infrastructures towards Armenia as priority areas of cooperation.  "There are big plans, both with the EU and without the EU," she said.  "The time has come for our countries to complete the border  delimitation. Between friendly countries, the delimitation process  should not last forever," Zourabichvili said, recalling that the  regulatory framework was completed when she was the head of the  Foreign Ministry. "We have a great future, and we are full of  optimism," Zourabichvili said.

But, she stressed, it is important that the intentions of the  countries were not only at the level of statements, but also moved to  a practical plane. Independent candidate Salome Zourabichvili during  her election campaign visited the Samtskhe-Javakheti region with the  predominant Armenian population and, addressing the audience, touched  upon the issue of obtaining Georgian citizenship, recalling that it  is provided only with the permission of the President. Third  president of the country, Mikheil Saakashvili, Zurabishvili accused  that when considering this issue he preferred ethnic Turks. <Until  now, the assignment of citizenship occurred only by decision of the  president. One president, who is my opponent, granted citizenship to  very many Turks, but did not give you citizenship, "Zourabichvili  said. She also noted her role in the work on new regulations of the  constitution, which will soon allow Georgian citizens to  simultaneously have the citizenship of another country.

As a result, the results of the first round of the presidential  elections in Georgia showed an interesting reality in the two largest  regions of the country, where ethnic minorities live compactly. In  Samtskhe- Javakheti, populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, she won,  and with a decent margin, Salome Zurabishvili, an independent  candidate supported by the ruling Georgian Dream. Grigol Vashadze, a  protege of Mikhail Saakashvili, won with a margin in the southeastern  regions of the country where the ethnically Azerbaijani population  predominates. The former president of Georgia immediately thanked the  Georgian voters of Azerbaijani origin for their support.   Nevertheless, already being president, Salome Zourabichvili during  her visit to Azerbaijan said: "The territorial integrity of our  countries is still not restored. The issue of occupation still  remains our painful injury. On the one hand, it hinders our  development, on the other hand, despite this, on these tragedies, we  were able to strengthen our state, the economy. "