Azerbaijani President, Turkish PM Visit Georgia
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will visit Georgia on February 7 to sign an agreement on a regional railway link connecting Azerbaijan with Turkey via Georgia.
The Azerbaijani president arrived in Tbilisi on Wednesday morning, and is also expected to hold bilateral talks with President Saakashvili. The Turkish PM is expected to arrive at 2 pm local time.
The three leaders will inaugurate a new terminal of the Tbilisi International Airport that was constructed by the Turkish consortium TAV-Urban. The opening of the terminal was initially scheduled for January, but then postponed as officials wanted it to coincide with the Turkish and Azeri leaders? visit to Tbilisi.
Talks between the three leaders are also expected to focus on energy cooperation in particular on distribution of gas share from the Azeri field Shah-Deniz.
Energy Minister of Turkey Hilmi G?ler will be accompanying the Turkish PM in Georgia.
The Turkish Daily News newspaper reported on February 7 quoting unnamed official from the Turkish Energy Ministry that there is currently ?an impasse? over distribution of shares from Shah-Deniz field as Georgia has requested more gas supplies than initially agreed under the contract.
President Saakashvili and his Azerbaijani counterparts are also expected to inaugurate a memorial board of Heydar Aliyev on the right bank of the Mtkvari river in Tbilisi. The section of the river bank has been renamed after Heydar Aliyev, late President of Azerbaijan and the father of Ilham Aliyev. The decision of the Tbilisi Municipality has triggered some controversy, as the section of the river bank was previously named after late Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia.
Reports say that the Georgian President and Turkish Prime Minister plan to attend a football match in the evening on Wednesday in Tbilisi, where Georgia will host Turkey in a friendly international match.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
