Thursday, June 27 2019 13:12

ArmInfo. Georgia welcomes all possible platforms with Armenia aimed at solving specific tasks. This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure Maya Tskitishvili on the fields of the Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation on June 27 in Yerevan.

 

According to her, holding the 10th meeting of the intergovernmental commission after a long break will raise the trade and economic relations between Armenia and Georgia to a qualitatively new level. The head of the Georgian delegation believes in deepening economic cooperation between the countries, as she sees opportunities in this direction.

 

“The trade turnover between Armenia and Georgia is growing, tourism is becoming more active, there is also an increase in Armenian investments in Georgia and vice versa,” she noted. As the Georgian Deputy Prime Minister pointed out, numerous reforms took place in Georgia and today the country is a “leader” in a number of areas.

 

“Today, we are a very attractive partner in both trade and investment - Georgia has an open, transparent, corruption-free and comfortable business environment with low tax rates,” she explained, stressing that Georgia’s GDP growth in 2018 was 4.7% compared with 2017 (according to the forecast of the Government of Georgia, in 2019, economic growth will be 4.5%. ed. note).

 

 

Maya Tskitishvili sees prospects for the development of cooperation also on international platforms. She thanked the Armenian authorities for their support in matters of importance to Georgia in the international arena. “In this context, we are pleased with the statements of Mr. Pashinyan about Yerevan’s readiness to intensify work with the EU to establish a visa-free regime. We are ready to assist Armenia in this issue, ”she stressed.

 

In the framework of deepening cooperation with the EU, the Georgian Deputy Prime Minister invited Armenian colleagues to take part in the events planned for the summer in Georgia. Thus, according to her, the first investment forum of the countries of the Eastern Partnership program will be held in July in Georgian Batumi, where the investment potential of the countries participating in the program will be presented.

 

“We hope that Armenia will be represented at a high level on July 11-12 at an event entitled “Georgia's European Way, ”timed to coincide with the decade of the Eastern Partnership,” she said. In addition, the presence of Armenia, as noted by Tskitishvili, is also desirable at the “Silk Road” forum. The event will be held in Georgia in October of this year, where the best platform for high-level dialogue will be created.

 

 

It should be noted that despite the fact that in September 2018, the Georgian prime minister during the meeting with his Armenian counterpart made a very ambitious offer to the Armenian side to bring the trade turnover to a billion dollars (from $ 240.1 million in 2017), according to the RA Statistics Committee, foreign trade turnover between Armenia and Georgia in 2018 was $ 138.9 million, with an annual decline of 42.4%. At the same time, exports amounted to $ 68.7 million, with an annual decline of 55.1%, imports - $ 70.1 million, a decline of 20.4%.