Georgian, Ukrainian Parliament Speakers Meet in Kiev
Georgian parliament speaker Davit Usupashvili met his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Groysman in Kiev on April 20 and discussed ways to intensify parliamentary cooperation in bilateral and multilateral forums to address, as the two speakers said, “joint challenges”.
“Our relations are very friendly. We are facing the same challenges. That unites us. We are ready to cooperate, to deepen our relations, to coordinate our actions on the international arena,” speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Volodymyr Groysman, said after the meeting.
He said that the Georgian side’s proposal to establish annual conference of lawmakers from Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine with the participation of the European counterparts was also discussed.
“We will create the arena for the countries having joint problems to jointly work on the issues of European integration and search for answers to the challenges,” Groysman said.
Georgian parliament speaker Usupashvili said that he had “a very fruitful meeting.”
“The Georgian people stand by the Ukrainian people, the Georgian Parliament stands by the Ukrainian Parliament and the Georgian government stands by the Ukrainian government. We should tackle aggression together, we should restore territorial integrity of our countries together and we should continue moving towards free Europe together. In Georgia this stance is shared by all the influential political forces,” Usupashvili said.
“We have agreed on concrete issues in order for the parliaments to play more active role both in bilateral relations as well as on the international stage,” he said.
The Georgian parliamentary delegation, visiting Ukraine, also includes chairpersons of parliamentary committees for foreign affairs and European integration GD MP Tedo Japaridze and GD MP Tina Khidasheli, respectively, and opposition UNM MP Giorgi Vashadze.
On April 21 the delegation will meet Ukrainian PM Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
