After the end of the 6th sitting of the Armenian-Georgian Intergovernmental Economic Cooperation in Yerevan RA Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan and his visiting Georgian counterpart, Zurab Noghaideli summoned a press conference. Prior to that Mr. Noghadideli held private meetings with RA President Robert Kocharyan and Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. During the meetings they have agreed to create a “common investment environment” that would make their small countries more attractive to large foreign investors. “We are going to start working on presenting Armenia and Georgia as a single investment and trade entity to investors interested in working with us,” Noghaideli said after a meeting in Yerevan of the Georgian-Armenian inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation. “Only together can we be of interest to big foreign firms,” said Sargsyan. He argued that the small size of Armenia’s and Georgia’s populations is a major factor discouraging foreign direct investment. “Whereas several years ago we were talking about how to make sure our cargos go through Georgian territory without problems and unfettered electricity supplies to Georgia, we are now discussing issues that are more important to our peoples. One of those issues is the formation of a common market,” Sarkisyan added at a joint news conference. “Armenia and Georgia are separately taken small markets. Georgia mainly produces goods that are not produced in Armenia and vice versa,” he said. “We are not competitors and can complement deficiencies of our markets.”
