Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan receives on Nov. 29, 2016 Georgian Ambassador to Yerevan Giorgi Saganelidze (Photo: gov.am)
BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN
As Armenia’s Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan on Tuesday met with Georgia’s Ambassador to Yerevan Giorgi Saganelidze and praised Armenia-Georgia relations, the newly-minted Georgian Prime Minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, said that his country was ready to sell a 25-percent stake in Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation (GOGC), which transports Russian natural gas to Armenia. Baku’s state energy company was quick to express interest in that crucial stake.
Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR said on Monday that it was interested in obtaining shares in the GOGC, a move that will heighten the conflict between Yerevan and Baku, and will severely call into question Tbilisi’s motives in advancing its regional policies, which, Saganelidze told Karapetyan, are based on “centuries-old friendship between the two peoples.â€
