Civil Georgia, Tbilisi

Speaking after meeting with his visiting Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sargsyan, President Saakashvili said on November 29, that the united Caucasus had no alternative.

“Our concept is of course based on the United Caucasus concept. I am sure that all the conflicts in the Caucasus are imposed by the empire force whose major principle is divide and rule,” Saakashvili said.

“It is in the interests of all the people and the states of the Caucasus to have united Caucasus, united economic space of the Caucasus and in the perspective creation of the united political commonwealth,” he said.

“It will definitely be implemented; it has no alternative for our people, for our small countries,” Saakashvili continued. “I am sure the conflicts, which were artificially imposed on our countries, will be resolved sooner or later – I think much sooner than anyone can imagine it. We will manage to find more common language and to integrate into the European space faster, if there is less interference from outside.”

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In a statement for the press after the meeting, Saakashvili also praised personally Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan his contribution to having “problem-free” bilateral relations between two countries and called him “old and reliable friend”.

He said that Georgia and Armenia had never had such good relations in the recent history as now.

“Our relations are exemplary not only in our region, but on the internally scale,” Saakashvili said.

He also said that the two countries would further boost ties, including through easing border crossing procedures by introducing one-stop border posts.

President Sargsyan said that relations between the two countries had been “developing dynamically” in recent years in all the spheres and the pace should be continued.

The Armenian President also said that although trade turnover between the two countries increased by 20%, the figures were still low and there was a potential for further increase.

Foreign trade turnover between Armenia and Georgia stood at USD 207.4 million in January-September, 2011, according to the Georgian state statistics office. Armenia is the only country among Georgia’s top ten trading partners with whom Georgia had a positive trade balance (USD 124.4 million) in the first three quarters of 2011.

The Armenian President also said that planned construction of a new road, which would shorten distance from Armenia to Georgia’s Black Sea port in Batumi Adjara Autonomous Republic, was important in terms of trade and economic cooperation.

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