Georgia’s Kvirikashvili holds meetings in Turkey
As a part of his official state visit to Turkey Georgia’s Prime Minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, met with the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan this Tuesday, December 20th.
The officials discussed bilateral cooperation in politics, trade, economy, transport, energy, arts and culture and agreed to further boost ties between the two countries.
Particular attention was paid to the issues of regional security and need to ensure peace and stability in the region.
Prime Minister of Georgia once again expressed support and solidarity to the people and authorities of Turkey for the recent series of terrorist attacks.
“Such violence should be opposed by the entire civilized world. Georgia stands solidly by its friends in this process,” President Kvirikashvili said.
Prior meeting their meeting, the two presidents attended the opening ceremonies for Istanbul’s Eurasia Tunnel.
A 14.6 km tunnel laid underneath the seabed will connect the continents of Europe and Asia, contributing, backers say, to a revival of the historic Silk Road.
The Eurasia Tunnel runs for 5.4 km underneath the Bosphorus. State-of-the-art technology has been used to seemlessly connect the newly constructed double-deck tunnel with existing infrastructure.
President Kvirikashvili also had a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Binali Yldirim, at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul.
"On behalf of the Government of Georgia, I strictly condemn the series of terrorist attacks occurring in Turkey in the recent past and express solidarity with the families of the victims, people and authorities of the Republic of Turkey,” said President Kvirikashvili.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister thanked President Kvirikashvili for the support demonstrated by Georgia many times. He said that Turkey continued to support Georgia’s geopolitical aspirations, including accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and integration with the European Union (EU) and and Euro-Atlantic Structures.
“Turkey has always supported territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia. We will continue doing so in the future. We believe that current problems should be resolved in the integral territory of Georgia, respecting its sovereignty and its internationally recognized borders,” Mr. Yildirim stressed at the press-conference.
He also underlined that Turkey had been Georgia’s top trade partner since 2007 and that the two countries plan to further boost the relationship.
“Georgia and Turkey cooperate in the area of investments. We launched the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway project, which is jointly implemented by Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. We hope it will be completed in the first quarter of 2017 and extend the transport corridor to bring a new momentum to the historic Silk Road,” Mr. Yildirim said.
By Thea Morrison