Armenian PM's visit to Georgia reconfirms traditionally friendly relations between two nations, expert says

YEREVAN, May 18. / ARKA /. Armenian prime minister Hovik Abrahamyan's visit to Georgia was to reconfirm the traditionally friendly relations between the two nations, Joni Melikyan, an expert in Georgian issues, said in an interview with Sputnik Armenia radio station.

On Sunday Hovik Abrahamyan made a one-day working visit to Georgia's Batumi for a meeting with his opposite number Irakli Garibashvili.

According to Melikyan, the two men discussed a wide range of economic issues and besides, this visit was a message to citizens of Georgia, its opposition, as well as Armenia and  the regional countries  that the Armenian-Georgian relations remain at a high level and the latest diplomatic scandal caused by a meeting of Armenian parliament speaker Galust Sahakyan with South Ossetia's parliament leader, a breakaway Georgian region, Anatoly Bibilov, did not affect the ties.

The meeting occurred during Bibilov's separate visits to Nagorno-Karabakh earlier this month to monitor its parliamentary elections. It made Georgia’s deputy foreign minister Gigi Gigiadze summon the Armenian ambassador to Georgia, Yuri Vardanyan, to express Tbilisi's “grave concern,” although Armenian authorities insisted that the meeting was “private.” 

The Georgian foreign ministry said in a statement that the meeting ran counter to the spirit of traditionally friendly relations between Georgia and Armenia, causing damage to bilateral relations.

According to Melikyan, Abrahamyan’s visit is supposed to help both countries to step up their economic ties in view of new challenges stemming from Georgia’s and Armenia’s integration choices. -0-