Georgian President Meets His Italian Counterpart
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili and his Italian Counterpart Sergio Mattarella held a face-to-face meeting at the Quirinal Palace in Italy on October 16.
The meeting focused on the development of Georgia-Italy bilateral cooperation and multilateral relations in international formats.
Margvelashvili has thanked his counterpart for supporting Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and spoken extensively on the situation in the occupied territories of Georgia and violations of human rights. He has also emphasized the importance of strengthening the non-recognition policy of Georgia's occupied territories and continuous support from the country’s partners.
The parties also discussed Georgia-Italy cooperation in the areas of security and defense. Defense Ministries of the two countries have bilateral cooperation since 2015, which mainly involves meeting of expert and exchanging experience in different areas, such as information technology, strategic communications, demining, military education, and etc. Both parties expressed readiness to further strengthen this cooperation.
Collaboration in energy sector has also been discussed, including the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), its importance and Georgia’s role in this project.
As underscored at the meeting, it is necessary to promote development of historic and centuries-old ties between Georgian and Italian peoples.
At the extended meeting, the Georgian side underlined that Italy is a firm supporter of Georgia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and non-recognition policy of the country’s occupied territories.
The two Presidents discussed the prospect of raising Georgia high on the international agenda. As noted, Italy will be the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Georgia places huge importance on maintaining the issues of the Russian-Georgian conflict and IDPs high on the OSCE agenda.
Conversation has also touched upon the investment climate of Georgia and the importance of attracting Italian investments, which will be facilitated through business relations and forums that already have excellent grounds - in 2017 several business forums were held in Rome and Tbilisi. President Margvelashvili has welcomed the activities of the Italian companies that operate in Georgia.
During the official visit to the Italian Republic, Giorgi Margvelashvili also met with the President of Italian Senate Pietro Grasso.
By Thea Morrison