YEREVAN — Armenia and Georgia have signed a strategic cooperation program for 2019, Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan said Thursday at a joint news conference with his Georgian counterpart Levan Izoria.

During their meeting the ministers discussed Armenian-Georgian relationships, international and regional security issues, as well as bilateral cooperation in defense sector between the two countries. Based on the results of the meeting, the heads of military establishments of the two nations signed “Bilateral Cooperation Plan between the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenian and the Ministry of Defense of Georgia for the year 2019”.

The outcomes of discussions were summarized in official statements by Davit Tonoyan and Levan Izoria, which signified importance of millennia-long friendly relations between the two peoples and the need for enhancing bilateral cooperation in defense realm. Both ministers valued exchange of experience and best practices between Armenia and Georgia in the spheres of military education, military medicine, professional Non-Commissioned Officer system, human rights and integrity building, as well as continued reciprocation of high-profile visits.

Touching upon the contribution of the two countries to international security missions, minister Izoria expressed hope that Armenian and Georgian units will continue joint participation in exercises held in multilateral formats. Minister Tonoyan, for his part noted that Armenia and Georgia are of crucial significance for each other in security, political, economic, and cultural domains, to name but a few, assuring that the two nations have mutual understanding of, and respect for one another’s preferences and solutions they have come up with for protection of national security.

During the visit the delegation of Minister of Defense of Georgia visited “Tsitsernakaberd” Memorial and paid tribute of respect to the memory of canonized martyrs of Armenian Genocide. Levan Izoria’s delegation then visited Mesrop Mashtots Research Institute of Ancient Manuscripts.