I would like to express my profound gratitude to my good friend and colleague, David Zalkaliani. During this one year we had many occasions to communicate with each other and discuss many issues on our agenda. We never had the problem of communication and immediate access to each other, and I am very grateful to David for this workstyle. And now, I am in Georgia on an official visit, which is a good opportunity for us to sum up our bilateral agenda in an inclusive and comprehensive manner.

I’d like to commend the high dynamics established in our relations, in our ties and cooperation. Our Prime Ministers maintain a very active dialogue with each other. Several reciprocal visits have taken place. Our Presidents very actively communicate. Few weeks ago the session of the Armenian-Georgian Intergovernmental Commission was held, with quite a substantive and extensive agenda.

A number of issues were touched upon and the cooperation in all spheres was discussed. As Governments, we also try to encourage all contacts between business sector representatives and among the civil society.

The interparliamentary platform for cooperation is very significant. From our side, we seek to have our input aimed at maintaining this dialogue and cooperation at the level of the MFA officials and the Foreign Ministries.

I look forward to host my colleague in Armenia on a reciprocal visit.

All these, as a whole, reflects how serious are in our intention and responsibility as two neighbors, two people whose relations are based on centuries-old historical values, to advance these relationships for the benefit of our people, our countries, but above all, strengthening our regional cooperation and security, which is a very important issue for us.

We also exchanged views and opinions on various issues related to regional security. Unfortunately, we still have unsettled conflicts in the region. We have reiterated our commitment to the settlement of conflicts exclusively in a peaceful way, as well as outlined the perception that every conflict has its peculiarities and the negotiation framework of the peaceful settlement. We reaffirmed our commitment to support the peace process within the established framework and negotiation platforms.

We have a very good collaboration on many international platforms and once again reiterated our intention to deepen such cooperation through joint efforts.

We had quite an extensive conversation on other issues of our bilateral agenda and will continue the discussions today. As you see, it takes a lot of time to reflect on what we have discussed, which once again demonstrates how wide is the range of issues uniting us: Armenia and Georgia.

Once again, I am deeply grateful, David, for a very warm hospitality.