Friday, 21 January 2005
Today a meeting of the Armenian constituent of the Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation has been held ot the Office of Government under the chairmanship of Prime Minister A. Margaryan.
The Commission reviewed the progress in the discharge of the tasks assigned during the previous meeting, most of which were said to have been fulfilled in time with the balance being in process. At present, activities are underway with the view of furthering the cooperation in trade, energy, transport, health care, environmental protection, science, culture and other fields. In this context, it was noted that issues concerning the eventual collaboration in the framework of the World Trade Organization and other international economic-financial institutions had been taken up several times during bilateral contacts, including the high-level meetings. In November 2004, the chambers of commerce and industry of the two countries exchanged the lists of their domestic products ready for export, the Armenian-Georgian Business Association was established to activate the contacts between entrepreneurs and businessmen on both sides. Currently efforts are underway towards the establishment of scientific and technical cooperation in the field of agricultural production and the increase of commodity turnover between the two countries. In particular, the activities of the Armenian-Georgian and Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commissions resulted in the signing of the agreement on the re-commissioning of Kavkaz-Poti railway-ferry transit route on January 10, 2005, which is expected to permit a quasi-two-fold decrease in the cost of freight traffic. About a dozen of different projects are being implemented in the field of environmental protection.
The meeting further discussed matters pertaining to border trade, road maintenance, provision of facilities for TV and radio broadcasts on respective territories, promotion of tourism, information exchange on the sanitary-hygienic situation etc.
The Commission also touched upon the scientific-educational and cultural cooperation between Armenia and Georgia. With reference to the Days of the Armenian Culture and the Days of the Georgian Culture to be held in Tbilisi and Yerevan respectively in 2005, the Prime Minister instructed to draft a comprehensive program of cultural events for Commission's approval within a month's period including the names of the persons in charge and an indicative timetable. The Prime Minister also commissioned all the ministries concerned to submit within a week's period detailed reports of the activities carried out in the areas under their responsibility in order to forward them to the Georgian side.
