YEREVAN, MARCH 25, ARMENPRESS. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, hosted the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze, who arrived in Armenia on an official visit.

First, an official welcoming ceremony was held, followed by a private conversation between the Prime Ministers of the two countries. Subsequently, discussions continued in an expanded format.

Prime Ministers of Armenia and Georgia Nikol Pashinyan and Irakli Kobakhidze made statements to media representatives after the meeting, Armenian PM's office said in a readout.

Prime Minister Pashinyan noted in his speech.

"Dear Prime Minister Kobakhidze,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear attendees,

I am glad to host the newly appointed Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze and his delegation in Armenia for the first time. I would like to congratulate my colleague once again, already in person, on the occasion of assuming the responsible position of the Prime Minister of Georgia. I am sure that Mr. Kobakhidze will make a serious contribution to the deepening of relations between Armenia and Georgia with his careful consistency.

You know that this year on January 26, the 13th session of the intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation between the Republic of Armenia and Georgia was held in Tbilisi, during which the joint declaration on strategic partnership was signed between Armenia and Georgia, which outlines an ambitious perspective for further development of our bilateral relations covering all fields. Today, my colleague and I had the opportunity to discuss possible and necessary steps towards the practical implementation of this joint declaration. I want to emphasize that unconditional recognition of each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty is a core element in that declaration. Today we also discussed the possibilities of activation of the demarcation process between Armenia and Georgia.

The continuous deepening and expansion of cooperation with Georgia is of strategic importance not only from the point of view of bilateral relations between our countries, but also from the point of view of ensuring stability and mutually beneficial cooperation in the region.

As you know, at the end of last year, Georgia acquired the status of a candidate country for EU membership. I would like to emphasize that Armenia reacted enthusiastically to the news, considering what happened as an important event that will have a direct impact not only on our region, but also on Armenia-Georgia bilateral relations.

The Republic of Armenia supported and continues to support Georgia's aspirations to join the European Union.

During today's meeting, I also presented to my colleague our perceptions regarding regional processes and the developments and current state of the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. I reaffirmed that Armenia assumes its share of responsibility for establishing peace and stability in the region. We expect that other actors will show a similar approach.

I have emphasized that Armenia is ready to move forward in the process of normalization of relations with Azerbaijan based on the 3 principles already known and agreed at the highest level between Armenia and Azerbaijan, namely: mutual recognition of territorial integrity and sovereignty based on the Alma-Ata Declaration, implementation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border delimitation process based on the same Alma-Ata Declaration, as well as unblocking the economic infrastructure of the region based on the principles of respect for the sovereignty and jurisdiction of countries, ensuring equality and reciprocity. Regarding the latter, we believe that the "Crossroads of Peace" project put forward by the Armenian government will become one of the future topics of the strategic partnership between our countries. We know and see that Georgia is not only interested in the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but is also actively trying to contribute to that process, for which I would like to thank our Georgian partners.

Once again, I welcome you to Yerevan and thank you for today's productive discussions."

In turn, Irakli Kobakhidze noted.

Following my appointment as Prime Minister, I was quick to visit the Republic of Armenia. Thank you for the warm welcome and friendship. I must also note that we have cooperated and had brotherly relations for centuries, signed the Declaration of Cooperation and raised our relations to an even higher level. The goal is to deepen cooperation, support peace and stability, and this declaration is based on our shared principles and values, and expresses our support for those values. Of course, I have expressed my gratitude to my colleague, Mr. Prime Minister Pashinyan, who supports the territorial integrity of Georgia. I also unreservedly support the territorial integrity of Armenia and share the opinion of my colleague that our relations are developing dynamically.

Of course, we talked about cooperation in different fields in different formats. At the policy level: transport, economy, tourism, our partnership in all these directions will be further deepened and developed, it is very important.

We also talked about regional developments, I emphasized the importance of our joint efforts to be able to fight the current challenges of the region. Georgia supports the efforts of stability, peace and coexistence in the South Caucasus, and we really hope that the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be signed and be a tangible agreement. Georgia is ready to support this process and contribute to the establishment of peace and stability in the region.

Mr. Prime Minister, let me once again thank you for your warm hospitality and I am glad for the opportunity to invite you to Georgia. We already talked about this during our meeting.

We have high-level bilateral visits, this is very important, and we must maintain this approach, trend, in order to strengthen our partnership at a high level. Our goal is to develop and strengthen our countries, the cooperation between our countries, and this cooperation is very important. Thank you."