O n December 13, on the initiative of Orbeli Analytical-Research Center, a webinar on “Armenia-Georgia Bilateral Relations: New Challenges and Opportunities” was held. Experts on economic and political issues participated in the professional discussion. 

David Janazyan, First Secretary of the First Department (Georgia) of Border Countries of the Republic of Armenia and Shalva Sabauri, First Secretary at Embassy of Georgia to Armenia participated and made a welcoming speech during the webinar. 

The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, welcoming the participants of the webinar, emphasized the importance of holding expert discussions, which allow to understand the key issues, challenges and opportunities of bilateral relations. He also noted, that Armenian-Georgian relations have a centuries-long history and the two peoples are united not only by historical and cultural ties but also by demographic values. 

Janazyan emphasized the mutual importance of deepening relations in political, security, economic, cultural and humanitarian fields. He noted that Armenia’s interest in the development and deepening of unique neighborly relations with Georgia is also expressed in the 5-year program of the Armenian Government. Janazyan also spoke about the effective work between the intergovernmental departments. 

The representative of the Georgian embassy also spoke about the strong historical ties between Armenia and Georgia. Referring to the dynamic developments of the Armenian-Georgian cooperation, Sabauri emphasized the importance of deepening bilateral relations based on common interests by all means. He especially stressed the dynamic developments of relations between the high-ranking officials of the two countries. 

Sabauri paid a special attention to the negative impact of misinformation (fake news) on the relations, adding that mutual trust is a necessity.

J ohnny Melikyan, the Senior Expert at the Orbeli Research Center and the moderator of the webinar presented a report on “The Basis and New Realities of Armenian-Georgian Relations”. The political expert spoke about the agenda issues of the Armenian-Georgian relations and the main ways of cooperation, stressing that the treaty on “Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Security” signed in 2001 is of core significance in these relations. According to the expert, in the face of new regional realities, the relations between the two countries have become stronger. According to Melikyan, this fact, even in terms of membership in various economic and security structures, created a good opportunity to give a new “depth” to the Armenian-Georgian relations. Melikyan stressed that to achieve all these, it is necessary to carry out a serious “homework” in both countries, and then proceed to the development and implementation of joint projects of regional significance. According to the speaker, all these will create preconditions for achieving “strategic depth” in Armenia-Georgia interstate relations.  

Hasmik Meliksetyan, expert on Georgian issues, spoke about the current problems in the Armenian-Georgian relations in her speech on “Armenia-Georgia Bilateral Relations in the Context of New Regional Challenges”. She particularly referred to Georgia’s position in the 44-day war and the spread of large-scale misinformation. According to the expert, the aim of the misinformation coordinated in the third countries was to create a tension in Armenians and Georgians living in Georgia, as well as in Armenian-Georgian relations. Meliksetyan drew the attention on the fact that the spread of misinformation and the lack of clear denials by Georgian side greatly influenced on the perceptions of a large part of the Armenian society, who is currently cautiously approaching the possibility of having rest in Georgia. The expert also touched upon the opportunities for developing bilateral relations, including the resumption of cooperation in defense and the inclusion of new fields. 

Tatevik Arustamyan, expert at Orbeli Center and economist, presented a report on “The Dynamics and Opportunities of Armenian-Georgian Economic Relations in the Context of Current Developments”. The speaker stressed that Armenia and Georgia are economically interdependent and the economic opportunities of the two countries are not fully realized. She underlined the importance of cooperation in various levels, such as intergovernmental commissions, private sector and experts in different fields. Arustamyan referred to the dynamics of economic results of the two countries: trade turnover, investments, export-import structure and so on. According to her, Georgia is one of the few trade partner countries of Armenia, with whom the trade balance is positive. According to the exporting country’s index, the volume of Georgia’s export to Armenia is $332 mil., meanwhile the volume of import of goods of Georgian origin is $70 mil., which underlines the importance of Georgia as a transit country for Armenia. The speaker emphasized that the latest news that the Persian Gulf- Black Sea corridor will pass through the territory of Azerbaijan doesn’t exclude the possibility that after the construction of the North-South Road, Armenia will be considered an alternative route, particularly in terms of maintaining security and stability in the region in the long term. Arustamyan also spoke about tourism, noting that creating tourist zones can become a direction of cooperation between Armenia and Georgia. In this context, she emphasized the importance of developing packages, which allows international tourists to visit two countries at once. 

The speech of Victor Kipiani, the Chair of a Georgian think tank Geocase was devoted to the commonalities of the two countries in the field of challenges and opportunities. Kipiani stressed the importance of stability, delimitation and demarcation of the borders for the two countries and the region. “Although we do not have the status of strategic partners, our partnership was determined by our neighborhood and historical commonalities”, expert noted.

In his speech, Kipiani stressed the importance of Armenia and Georgia having more weight and voice in resolving issues in the region. The expert also stressed that no country should have an exclusive right to solve issues in the region. 

Vakhtang Charaia, economist and head of Tbilisi State University Center for Analysis and Forecast, presented a report on “The Past and Future of Georgia-Armenia Economic Cooperation”. He noted that frequent discussions will help to know each other and take such steps that will be useful for the governments as well.  

S peaking about the Georgian economy, as well as about Armenia-Georgia trade turnover, Charaia noted that Armenia is a small part of Georgia’s economy. According to the data provided by the speaker, the flow of tourists from Armenia to Georgia has significantly decreased during the last 3 years, which is also due to the new Covid pandemic.  

The economist stressed that the Armenian-Georgian cooperation should be aimed at supporting each other and not creating problems. 

Gela Vasadze, political expert at the Georgian Center for Strategic Analysis spoke about the attempts to build a new security architecture in the South Caucasus. According to the expert, the situation in our region cannot be considered as post-war, as there is a classic military conflict, where each regional player seeks to take a “comfortable position”.     

According to him, the interests of Ankara and Baku are mostly aligned or harmonized, whereas the interests of Moscow and Yerevan often contradict each other. Referring to the topic of delimitation and demarcation, Vasadze noted that the line of contact between Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces is not a border, but a front line. “Where the Russian military stands, that will be the line of demarcation”.

Touching upon the formats aimed at resolving the conflict, Vasadze spoke about the “3+3” format or the actual “3+2” format, noting that it repeats the Astana format. According to Vasadze, it is difficult to imagine that Moscow and Ankara or Moscow and Tehran will discuss bilateral relations in such a format. As a result, it turns out a format for negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. 

Vasadze considered Georgia’s engagement in this format meaningless, as there are Geneva format talks with Russia. The expert stressed that such formats could even be dangerous for Georgia, taking into account the possible equal presence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The webinar was then followed by a productive discussion, during which issues negatively affecting the relations between the two negotiating countries, such as misinformation were raised. The participants of the event expressed their willingness to continue the cooperation.