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IVANISHVILI IN YEREVAN: GEORGIA'S HEAD OF STATE IN WAITING PAYS VISIT TO ARMENIA
By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
NEWS | 17.01.13 | 14:57
Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili assured the leadership
in Yerevan that his government would do everything possible to make
Armenians living in Georgia feel at home as he paid a visit to Armenia
on Thursday.
"I will do what I promised in my election program," said Ivanishvili
at a press conference in the Armenian capital after a meeting with
his Armenian counterpart Tigran Sargsyan, answering the question of
what expectations about 200,000 members of the Armenian community
of Georgia could have from the Georgian government, considering that
many of them voted for Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream Alliance in the
October 1 parliamentary elections.
Georgian Dream, as an opposition bloc, won the election, with its
leader Ivanishvili assuming the post of prime minister, which is to
become the top post in the country after current president Mikheil
Saakashvili's completion of term late this year.
Before visiting Armenia, Ivanishvili was in Azerbaijan in December,
where, as Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze said, he was
received with "special honor".
The Georgian prime minister's visit to Armenia comes amid certain
tensions in Armenian-Georgian relations caused by the recent
controversial statements by Panjikidze as well as Catholicos-Patriarch
of All Georgia Ilia II regarding the Karabakh conflict.
Speaking in Yerevan today Ivanishvili said that his meeting with
Prime Minister Sargsyan was held in a very warm atmosphere.
"Our conversation was such as if we had known each other since
childhood. It was very warm," said the Georgian official.
The Armenia prime minister, for his part, stressed that "there is no
question in the Armenian-Georgian relations that cannot be settled
through discussions."
During the press conference, Ivanishvili was enraged by the question
of one of the Georgian journalists who asked him to explain what,
after all, Georgian Foreign Minister Panjikidze said about Karabakh. A
few days ago Azeri media wrote that while in Lithuania Panjikidze
said that the Karabakh problem should be solved from the viewpoint
of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. On January 15, in Prague,
the top Georgian diplomat explained her statement, saying that in the
Lithuanian parliament she delivered a report after which an Azerbaijani
ambassador asked her about what position Georgia has on Azerbaijan's
territorial integrity. And she said that Georgia supports Azerbaijan's
territorial integrity.
"The minister's words were distorted by the media. End of story," said
Ivanishvili in Yerevan, adding that the problem is really complicated
and is likely to remain such also in the future.
Later on Friday Ivanishvili was due to meet with Armenia's President
Serzh Sargsyan, His Holiness Karekin II, the Catholicos of All
Armenians, as well as the ministers of foreign affairs, energy and
natural resources and economy. Ivanishvili was also due to pay a
visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial at Tsitsernakaberd and the
ancient manuscripts depository Matenadaran.
Also today the governments of Armenia and Georgia signed an agreement
on joint use of the customs points of Bagratashen-Sadakhlo,
Ayrum-Sadakhlo, Gogavan-Guguti and Bavra-Ninotsminda. Armenia's
Ministry of Culture and Georgia's Ministry of Culture and Monument
Protection signed a program of cooperation for 2013-2015.
From: Baghdasarian
By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
NEWS | 17.01.13 | 14:57
Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili assured the leadership
in Yerevan that his government would do everything possible to make
Armenians living in Georgia feel at home as he paid a visit to Armenia
on Thursday.
"I will do what I promised in my election program," said Ivanishvili
at a press conference in the Armenian capital after a meeting with
his Armenian counterpart Tigran Sargsyan, answering the question of
what expectations about 200,000 members of the Armenian community
of Georgia could have from the Georgian government, considering that
many of them voted for Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream Alliance in the
October 1 parliamentary elections.
Georgian Dream, as an opposition bloc, won the election, with its
leader Ivanishvili assuming the post of prime minister, which is to
become the top post in the country after current president Mikheil
Saakashvili's completion of term late this year.
Before visiting Armenia, Ivanishvili was in Azerbaijan in December,
where, as Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze said, he was
received with "special honor".
The Georgian prime minister's visit to Armenia comes amid certain
tensions in Armenian-Georgian relations caused by the recent
controversial statements by Panjikidze as well as Catholicos-Patriarch
of All Georgia Ilia II regarding the Karabakh conflict.
Speaking in Yerevan today Ivanishvili said that his meeting with
Prime Minister Sargsyan was held in a very warm atmosphere.
"Our conversation was such as if we had known each other since
childhood. It was very warm," said the Georgian official.
The Armenia prime minister, for his part, stressed that "there is no
question in the Armenian-Georgian relations that cannot be settled
through discussions."
During the press conference, Ivanishvili was enraged by the question
of one of the Georgian journalists who asked him to explain what,
after all, Georgian Foreign Minister Panjikidze said about Karabakh. A
few days ago Azeri media wrote that while in Lithuania Panjikidze
said that the Karabakh problem should be solved from the viewpoint
of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. On January 15, in Prague,
the top Georgian diplomat explained her statement, saying that in the
Lithuanian parliament she delivered a report after which an Azerbaijani
ambassador asked her about what position Georgia has on Azerbaijan's
territorial integrity. And she said that Georgia supports Azerbaijan's
territorial integrity.
"The minister's words were distorted by the media. End of story," said
Ivanishvili in Yerevan, adding that the problem is really complicated
and is likely to remain such also in the future.
Later on Friday Ivanishvili was due to meet with Armenia's President
Serzh Sargsyan, His Holiness Karekin II, the Catholicos of All
Armenians, as well as the ministers of foreign affairs, energy and
natural resources and economy. Ivanishvili was also due to pay a
visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial at Tsitsernakaberd and the
ancient manuscripts depository Matenadaran.
Also today the governments of Armenia and Georgia signed an agreement
on joint use of the customs points of Bagratashen-Sadakhlo,
Ayrum-Sadakhlo, Gogavan-Guguti and Bavra-Ninotsminda. Armenia's
Ministry of Culture and Georgia's Ministry of Culture and Monument
Protection signed a program of cooperation for 2013-2015.
From: Baghdasarian