Georgian PM meets Turkish FM in Tbilisi to discuss strategic projects, plans
Georgian PM has met with the Turkish FM before the beginning of the eighth meeting of Georgian, Turkish and Azerbaijani FMs in Tbilisi. Photo: government of Georgia press office.
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Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has met with Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu, who is visiting Tbilisi to participate in the eighth, trilateral meeting of Georgian, Azerbaijani and Turkish FMs, earlier today.
We value our special relations with Turkey and welcome further strengthening of strategic partnership,” Gakharia has stated at the meeting.
Gakharia and Cavusoglu spoke about the high-level, Georgia-Turkey strategic cooperation council meeting scheduled at the beginning of the next year in Ankara and bilateral energy and transport projects, including the Southern Gas Corridor (a part of which, TANAP, has been recently launched in Turkey) and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.
Apart from the issues of strategic cooperation Georgian FM David Zalkaliani (R) briefed his Turkish counterpart on Russia's illegal activities in Georgia. Photo: Foreign Ministry press office.
Cavusoglu has expressed his support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Georgian FM David Zalkaliani, who has also met with Cavusoglu face-to-face, raised the adduction of a well-known Georgian doctor Vazha Gaprindashvili by Russian-controlled occupation forces and current severe humanitarian situation in Georgia's two Russian occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali.
A trilateral meeting involving the Georgian, Azerbaijani and Turkish foreign ministers will take place in Tbilisi later today, at the palace of state ceremonies in Avlabari. It will be the eighth meeting of the traditional format.
The long-awaited opening of the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) was held on November 30 in Turkey.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia will take part in the inauguration of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) in Turkey today. PM Gakharia will attend the inauguration together with the Presidents of Turkey and Azerbaijan Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ilham Aliyev.
The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), a natural gas pipeline from Azerbaijan passing through Georgia and Turkey to Europe, will be opened on June 12 in the Turkish city of Eskisehir.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to visit Georgia in May of 2020, Georgian Ambassador to Turkey Giorgi Janjgava stated earlier today.
Georgian, Turkish and Azerbaijani foreign ministers have signed a new, 2020-2022 action plan for sectoral cooperation during the eighth meeting of the trilateral format held in Tbilisi earlier today. The action plan provides steps and actions in all the fields of cooperation between the countries which will benefit the interests of Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, the Georgian Foreign Ministry reports.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has called for Georgia’s accession into NATO during the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland, stating that ‘Georgia needs us and we need an ally like Georgia. So we need enlargement,’ Reuters reports. Cavusoglu stated during the panel discussion that “I don’t understand why we have not invited Georgia or why we haven’t activated the action plan for Georgia to become a member.”
Georgia says it stands by and supports its strategic ally Turkey following a deadly attack of the Syrian government in the Idlib province of opposition-held north-western Syria, killing at least 33 Turkish soldiers earlier today.