Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and his Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinyan on Friday signed several agreements as part of the 13th session of the Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation between the countries, the Georgian Government Administration announced.

The officials signed a joint declaration on the establishment of a strategic partnership between the countries, memoranda on cooperation in agriculture and healthcare, and an agreement on the improvement of the working conditions of diplomatic missions and consular institutions of the two countries. 

Garibashvili said Armenia was one of Georgia's “important trading partners” and among the top 10 trading partners with recent trade turnover, while last year it was sixth in the statistics.  

In his turn, Pashinyan said introduction of joint control models at border crossing points was being “actively” discussed between the customs authorities of the two countries, with the talks aiming to reduce time required for customs procedures.

The discussion at the session also touched on the importance of peace and stability in the region, with Garibashvili noting his office continued efforts to facilitate the peace process and was ready to continue its involvement.

The Armenian PM said he had presented the Peace Crossroads project at the session, with the initiative aimed at assisting growth of regional relations.

In this process the issue of protecting the sovereignty of states is very important, and our region can become a very important regional road between the south and the north, the west and the east, and in all this great importance is attached to inclusiveness, and all states will be given the opportunity to participate in economic projects”, Pashinyan said.

He added a “good” example of economic projects was the Black Sea submarine electricity cable project – intended to connect the grids of the South Caucasus and European Union member states – in which Armenia had a “great interest”.