Georgia, Azerbaijan Reaffirm Strategic Partnership at Baku Meeting
BAKU – During a meeting between Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze and his Azeri counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov, the two South Caucasus countries reiterated their growing strategic alliance and vowed to pursue further economic and security ties, Janelidze said on the side lines of the conference.
Janelidze is in Baku as part of an official visit aimed at strengthening ties between the two countries and in the wake of a major agreement between Tbilisi and Baku for additional volumes of natural gas supplies to Georgia.
The move is widely seen as a reaffirmation by both Azerbaijan and Georgia to remain economically independent of an increasingly belligerent Russian government, which has actively pursued a policy of reasserting its authority in the Caucasus region.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev weighed in on the discussion following his meeting with Janelidze, saying that a more robust strategic partnership between the two countries remains a priority for both governments.
On 4 March, Tbilisi and Baku signed an agreement for an additional supply of 500 million cubic meters of Azeri natural gas to Georgia.