Georgia, Lithuania agree on tighter economic cooperation

Georgia and Lithuania are deepening their economic relations after the two countries agreed on tighter business cooperation.

The Prime Ministers of the two post-Soviet states - one of which is already a member of the European Union (EU) while the other is on its way towards EU integration - met in the Georgian capital Tbilisi earlier this afternoon.

Irakli Garibashvili of Georgia and Algirdas Butkevicius of Lithuania discussed bilateral economic cooperation, transport and energy issues, as well as Georgia’s NATO and EU integration.

Official welcoming ceremony in Tbilisi. Photo by PM's press office.

The parties agreed tomorrow, January 27, they would sign an economic cooperation document which would see Georgia-Lithuania trade-economic relations reach the same high level as the two countries' political relations. 

At a joint press conference Garibashvili said trade turnover between Georgia and Lithuania was increasing and the number of Lithuanian tourists to Georgia had doubled in recent years. He spoke about a direct flight between Kutaisi and Vilnius, which launched in March 2014, as one of possible reasons of this.

Afterwards the Lithuanian PM summed up the meeting on his official Twitter account:

With @PrimeMinisterGE discussed economic, transport and energy issues, #Georgia’s integration into #NATO and the #EU. pic.twitter.com/GqimvCmPDK

— Algirdas Butkevičius (@AButkevicius) January 26, 2015

Butkevicius was accompanied to Tbilisi by a large group of Lithuanian businessmen, who, as the PM put it, were "ready to do business in Georgia".

Tomorrow the Lithuanian PM was expected to meet representatives of the Baltic Business Association in Georgia and participate in the Georgian-Lithuanian Business Forum.

Meanwhile at the meeting Garibashvili and Butkevicius also spoke about Ukraine and the ongoing crisis there. The two leaders condemned the recent attacks on Ukrainian civilians and said: "Russian-backed separatists need to be stopped.”

"Pro-Russian troops’ attacks in Ukraine is alarming for the EU,” Butkevicius said.

Garibashvili thanked Butkevicius for Lithuania’s support towards Georgia "especially in this tense situation in the region”. He stressed the importance of the upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga in May, where Georgia planned to show its progress towards EU membership and hopefully see some "concrete results".