ARMENIAN AND GEORGIAN PRIME MINISTERS DISCUSS RELATIONSHIPS
ARMENPRESS
May 23, 2008
MINSK, MAY 23, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian who
arrived in Minsk, Belarus, on May 22 afternoon to attend a recurrent
CIS summit of heads of governments, met today morning, before the
launch of the summit, with his Georgian counterpart Lado Gurgenidze.
The government press office said Tigran Sarkisian first congratulated
his Georgian counterpart on the occasion of the May 21 parliamentary
elections expressing hope that their results will become a serious
step towards democracy strengthening and resolution of the country’s
urgent problems.
The Georgian prime minister cited the assessments of international
observers who said the polls were held successfully. At the request
of Gurgenidze Tigran Sarkisian spoke about new Armenian government
and its priorities.
During their conversation both prime ministers stated the significance
of the bilateral inter-governmental cooperation commission from the
perspective of closer relationships between the two countries. They
agreed to continue steering the work of the commission and convene
its next meeting in July, which they said will give a new push to
strengthening of relations between Armenia and Georgia.
Tigran Sarkisian and Lado Gurgenidze also spoke about ongoing projects
and existing problems. Citing cooperation in energy as successful
they said they should enhance partnership in banking, financing and
other areas.
Taking advantage the Armenian prime minister spoke about some issues of
concern for the Armenian side requesting Gurgenidze’s intervention for
their solution. Particularly, Sarkisian spoke about high transit fees
imposed by the government of Georgia on Armenia-bound and vice-verse
goods. He said the Armenian government would like to learn the
rationale of how these fees are calculated.
He then drew his counterpart’s attention to the status of the Georgian
Diocese of the Armenian Church and encroachments of Georgian clergy
and laymen on Armenian churches in Georgia, which according to the
Armenian prime minister, cause extra tensions among the society.
In this sense he mentioned developments around the Armenian Surb
Nshan church in Tbilisi which is being fenced off illegally by a
Georgian Orthodox Church priest, who claims that it belongs to the
Georgian Church.
The Georgian prime minister condemned all manifestations of extremism
and provocative actions premising to learn more about this incident
and intervene.