This visit had been planned a long time ago, but the pandemic and the conflict in the region stood in the way. This is what President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili stated while making joint statements with President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian in Tbilisi.

“The picture that was formed after the war was grave for the region and the particular country. I would like to express my condolences to the relatives of the victims of the war [in Nagorno-Karabakh] and you. During the conflict, Georgia supported peace, and to show this, it offered a platform for meetings in order to launch dialogue and discharge the situation. Georgia is still making this offer.

I introduced Mr. Sarkissian to the current situation in the seized territories of Georgia, the illegal demarcations, the violations of human rights, etc. We all understand that any conflict disturbs the whole region, and there is no alternative to peace and cooperation for the development of the Caucasus. We discuss the future potential of the region. The countries of the Caucasus remain resolute and must shape the future of the Caucasus together. Georgians are proud that citizens of Georgia of Armenian descent benefit from all the opportunities in our country to preserve the language and culture of their ancestors, but at the same time more efforts need to be made to make sure they are fluent in the state language and are fully integrated into the country’s economy and politics.”