Turkish PM Meets Georgian Officials in Tbilisi

Accompanied by seven ministers, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim paid one-day official visit to Georgia to attend the second meeting of the High Level Georgia-Turkey Strategic Cooperation Council.

At a meeting with Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, the two leaders spoke on Turkish-Georgian economic and political relations. They also touched upon the trilateral Georgia-Azerbaijan-Turkey cooperation format and focused on the implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project.

According to the Georgian PM’s office, the two Prime Ministers discussed joint transport and energy projects during the Strategic Cooperation Council meeting. Speaking on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project, PM Kvirikashvili noted that “the corridor will be one of the important segments of the revival of the great Silk Road project.”

At the Council meeting, the sides signed various documents to foster bilateral cooperation in the fields of economy, justice, cybersecurity and culture.

At the joint press briefing after the Council, PM Kvirikashvili noted that his counterpart’s visit to Georgia, as well as the existence of the Strategic Cooperation Council, “is a clear evidence of the well-defined will of the two countries’ political leaders and of the spirit with which the bilateral relations are developing.”

Kvirikashvili said that despite intensive economic exchanges between Georgia and Turkey, “untapped potential” needs to be fully realized. For that, Kvirikashvili went on, the sides signed the declaration on the establishment of the Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETCO), “which is yet another step ahead in this respect.”

The Prime Minister also stressed the importance of “widening the free trade agreement as much as possible,” enabling Georgian producers to increase export volumes to Turkey.

In his remarks, as reported by the Georgian PM’s press service, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim touched upon the economic relations as well, pledging to work on ensuring trade balance between Georgia and Turkey.

Following the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council meeting, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım met with President Giorgi Margvelashvili. According to the President’s administration, the two discussed regional security challenges and NATO-Georgia relations.

“Turkey is Georgia’s very active supporter in its Euro-Atlantic integration. The Warsaw Summit highlighted the Black Sea security challenges. And Turkey plays a very active role in the Black Sea security,” President Margvelashvili stated.

On May 23, Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu, who accompanied Prime Minister Yıldırım during his visit to Georgia, met with his Georgian counterpart, Mikheil Janelidze. The Georgian Foreign Ministry reported after the meeting that the sides spoke on a broad range of issues on bilateral, as well as multilateral agenda.

At the meeting, Minister Janelidze also expressed Tbilisi’s gratitude for Turkey’s unequivocal support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as for its Euro-Atlantic aspirations.