Azerbaijani PM meets Georgian collegue in Tbilisi UPDATE

15:28

The 9th Summit of the Joint Inter-Governmental Committee for Economic Partnership between Azerbaijan and Georgia was held in Tbilisi on December 15.

According to Report, citing the Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers, the meeting was chaired by the prime ministers of the two countries, Ali Asadov of Azerbaijan and Irakli Garibashvili of Georgia. This Report was reported in the Cabinet of Ministers.

The heads of various state structures were also present.

In his opening speech, Prime Minister Asadov noted that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Georgia, emphasizing that the relations between Azerbaijan and Georgia have reached the level of strategic partnership.

In the course of the summit, the sides have expressed satisfaction with the development of ties in the political, economic, investment, energy, transport, cultural and humanitarian spheres and stressed the importance of mutual support within international organizations.

Speaking about interregional cooperation, Asadov said “Recent contacts between individual cities and districts of our countries have become more intense, which naturally has a very positive impact on the comprehensive development of Azerbaijani-Georgian relations”.

In the past and during the current year, a number of cities and regions of the two countries, including Baku and Tbilisi, signed twinning agreements. Taking into account this positive trend, an initiative was put forward for the possible holding of an Azerbaijan-Georgia interregional forum.

The increase in trade between Azerbaijan and Georgia was also recorded, taking into account the great potential of both countries, the importance of implementing joint projects for further expansion of mutual trade was emphasized, as well as the increasing investment cooperation.

The energy sector was considered one of the main priorities of bilateral cooperation. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and the Southern Gas Corridor projects contribute to the economic development of both Azerbaijan and Georgia.

The sides also noted on the fact, that, traditionally, much attention is paid to the field of transport and transit, where there is a steady growth of freight transport and therefore the importance of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was emphasized.

“Launching the railway at full capacity will serve even more prosperity and economic progress of our countries”, Prime Minister Asadov said.

Both sides also noted on the relevance of the Middle Corridor (Trans-Caspian International Transport Route) and the importance of increasing joint efforts to attract additional volumes of goods on this route.

In this context, Asadov stressed the importance of the Zangazur corridor as part of the Middle Corridor, stating that this corridor will provide diversification of regional transport communications and ties.

Prospects of Azerbaijan-Georgia strategic partnership development in the whole complex of relations were also widely discussed during the meeting.

Following the meeting, Prime Ministers Asadov and Garibashvili signed the protocol of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission summit.

A number of agreements on the development of cooperation in the spheres of agriculture, ecology and small and medium-sized business were also signed by the other attending high-ranking officials of Azerbaijan and Georgia.

14:56

The prime ministers of Georgia and Azerbaijan held a meeting on December 15 in Tbilisi.

According to Report, the two sides have expressed their satisfaction regarding the development of the bilateral strategic partnership in various fields.

The importance of the 9th Summit of the Joint Inter-Governmental Committee for Economic Partnership between Azerbaijan and Georgia was also highlighted. Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili noted that the formal visit of his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ali Asadov, together with the summit will play a key input in the expansion of the future relations of the two countries.