Israeli Parliament Speaker Visits Georgia

Knesset delegation, led by Israeli parliament speaker Yuli Edelstein, is visiting Tbilisi on November 5-7.

The Knesset Speaker met his Georgian counterpart Davit Usupashvili; President Giorgi Margvelashvili and head of the Georgian Orthodox Church Patriarch Ilia II on November 5.

The Georgian and Israeli parliament speakers signed a memorandum on cooperation between the legislative bodies of the two countries, which envisages, as Usupashvili said, practical, “specific issues, which will help the two parliaments to cooperate almost on daily basis and to exchange experience.”

Usupashvili said that the Israeli parliament can share its experience in “Green Knesset” concept and in its efforts in integrating people with disabilities as employees of the parliament.

“We shared our achievements in respect of openness,” Usupashvili said, noting that the Georgian parliament’s inter-faction group was the winner of Open Government Partnership (OGP) award at the OGP Global Summit in Mexico last month.

“I am glad that we are now speaking on such practical issues; it means that at all the other levels – strategic cooperation, mutual understanding on political issues – we have an agreement for a long time already and now we have to address such very specific issues,” Usupashvili said.

“We wish Israel success in achieving peace and stability in the region – Georgia remains a very reliable friend and partner of Israel in this respect,” the Georgian Parliament speaker said.

The Knesset speaker said that Israel and Georgia have “wonderful relations” and “instead of just making declarations about this wonderful relations, we are trying to deepen the ties and enrich them with some practical initiatives.”

During the visit the Knesset delegation will also meet PM Irakli Garibashvili and Foreign Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili on November 6.