By Emil Danielyan
Armenia and Georgia have agreed to maintain “permanent contacts” on ways of developing their military cooperation, Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian said on Saturday after ending a three-day visit to Tbilisi. Sarkisian said he and his Georgian counterpart, David Tevzadze, decided to form a joint commission that will look into possibilities of furthering bilateral defense links.
“There are areas where we can cooperate, ranging from an exchange of experience to the military-technical sphere,” he told reporters in on his return to Yerevan, adding that Armenian and Georgian military officials will make visits to each other’s country every three months.
While in the Georgian capital, Sarkisian also met with President Eduard Shevardnadze who was in Armenia on an official visit earlier this. Shevardnadze and Armenian President Robert Kocharian on Tuesday signed a comprehensive treaty on friendship, cooperation and mutual security. The document obliges either party not to join alliances that are hostile to the other. The provision reflected Armenia’s unease over Georgia’s growing military ties with Turkey.
According to a report by Georgian state radio cited by Groong, Tevzadze welcomed Sarkisian’s statement that Yerevan no longer objects to the Georgian-Turkish military cooperation. He also said that the two neighbors have a “common interest” in fostering stability in the South Caucasus.
Armenia and Georgia have agreed to maintain “permanent contacts” on ways of developing their military cooperation, Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian said on Saturday after ending a three-day visit to Tbilisi. Sarkisian said he and his Georgian counterpart, David Tevzadze, decided to form a joint commission that will look into possibilities of furthering bilateral defense links.
“There are areas where we can cooperate, ranging from an exchange of experience to the military-technical sphere,” he told reporters in on his return to Yerevan, adding that Armenian and Georgian military officials will make visits to each other’s country every three months.
While in the Georgian capital, Sarkisian also met with President Eduard Shevardnadze who was in Armenia on an official visit earlier this. Shevardnadze and Armenian President Robert Kocharian on Tuesday signed a comprehensive treaty on friendship, cooperation and mutual security. The document obliges either party not to join alliances that are hostile to the other. The provision reflected Armenia’s unease over Georgia’s growing military ties with Turkey.
According to a report by Georgian state radio cited by Groong, Tevzadze welcomed Sarkisian’s statement that Yerevan no longer objects to the Georgian-Turkish military cooperation. He also said that the two neighbors have a “common interest” in fostering stability in the South Caucasus.