YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The upcoming visit of Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia to Armenia is of cognitive nature, Expert on Georgian Studies Jony Melikyan told a press conference in Armenpress, adding that Gakharia has recently been appointed PM of Georgia, but previously he visited Armenia twice. Last time he visited Armenia when serving as minister of Interior.

“As you know, the Armenia PM had an active constructive cooperation with the former PM of Georgia, informal meetings have also taken place. It is expected that this cooperation will continue also with the new Georgian PM. I think normal relations will be established with PM Giorgi Gakharia”, he said.

The expert said Armenia and Georgia work in a number of directions, such as tourism, energy, trade relations, infrastructures. In addition, it’s important that during this visit the prospects and inter-state agenda will be upgraded.

“I would like to highlight another issue as well. The recent talks on Georgia include the word strategic. I think this idea should develop and it should be fixed in the newly prepared strategy what we see in our relations in the near future, and we should build our policy”, the expert noted.

Commenting on the ban of the transit of wheat and flour by trucks in Georgia’s territory, the term of which was postponed until October 1, the expert said there is no information yet regarding this issue, but added that perhaps this issue will be one of the agenda issues during the Georgian PM’s visit to Armenia.

In addition to the Armenia-Georgia cooperation, the discussions will also focus on the regional matters. Political scientist Narek Minasyan stated that the Georgian PM already visited Azerbaijan and plans to visit Turkey after Armenia, and his next visit will most probably be to Brussels.

“We should expect that during Gakharia’s tenure it will be possible to maintain the positive dynamics on the one hand, and discuss new agenda issues on the other hand”, the political scientist said. Talking about the Georgian-Turkish relations, Minasyan said the PM’s visit to Armenia will be carried out in a so-called non-positive situation connected with the current Turkish operations in Syria. In case of Russia the situation is difficult. As a result of the protests, incidents in summer Russia again imposed sanctions on Georgia which greatly affected the economy. As for the issue of the road towards Abkhazia, Narek Minasyan said progress in this direction is less probable.

“Given that the anti-Russian moods have drastically increased, I don’t think there will be a progress on this path”, he said.

In turn expert Jony Melikyan said the alternative route of Upper Lars for Armenia should be the sea. If Armenia has a ferry, it will enable the freight carriers to solve the issue in case of traffic congestion. This issue is linked with the checkpoints in Russia where no upgrade works are expected in the near future.

Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia will arrive in Armenia on an official visit on October 15 at the invitation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

After the official welcoming ceremony the Armenian and Georgian PMs will hold a private meeting which will be followed by an extended format meeting. Thereafter, the two PMs will hold a joint press conference summing up the results of their talks.

During his visit the Georgian PM will also meet with President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian and His Holiness Garegin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.

PM Gakharia will visit the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial to pay tribute to the memory of the innocent victims.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan