Saakashvili Hails Ties with Turkey

President Saakashvili hailed Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his personal contribution in boosting ties between the two countries and called him “my brother.”

“We [Turkey and Georgia] have achieved much in recent years [in bilateral ties]; we have free trade agreement, [visa] free border movement, joint airport [in Batumi],” Saakashvili said.

He was speaking at a ceremony of opening of a renovated border crossing point between Turkey and Georgia in Sarpi, Adjara Autonomous Republic, which was also attended by the Turkish PM Erdogan. The new border crossing point, renovated by the Turkish side, has three separate lanes – for vehicles, trucks and for foot-passengers.  

Saakashvili also said that Georgia wanted this border crossing point with Turkey “to be special” and offered a joint Turkish-Georgian administration that would reduce red tape while crossing the border by 70%. He said the joint administration would remove double border crossing and clearance procedures that passengers have to undergo now on the both sides of the border. He said that the decision has already been made on the matter and Turkey will also renovate the border crossing point on the Georgian side of the border and the crossing point will be jointly administered by the two sides.

PM Erdogan welcomed the initiative and said “the border should not be an obstacle.”

President Saakashvili said that Turkey had turned into Georgia’s major trade partner with “four-fold trade turnout increase in recent years.”

Georgia’s trading volume with Turkey reached USD 1.2 billion in 2008, up by 33.7% over 2007, according to the Georgian Statistics Department. Trading volume with Turkey accounted for 15.9% (rose by 1.9%) of the total foreign trade turnover.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)