German official thanks Georgia for returning historical German books

A German Minister is thanking Georgia for returning two 18^thCentury books taken from Germany during WWII.

Georgia’s Prime Minister attended a festive reception at Berlin’s Bode Museum and handed over the books to Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

PM Garibashvili is on an official visit to Germany.

At the entrance to the museum, PM Garibashvili symbolically handed Steinmeier the two German books, which were previously kept at the Tbilisi State University Library.

In response, the German Minister thanked Garibashvili and said he was pleased Garibashvili personally returned the books to their rightful home.

"Both books that you handed me not only represent the whole library but have an exciting history. We could have lost this history but that did not happen thanks to you and I am grateful for this,” Steinmeier said.

"You have opened the way to Germany through these books. This is the merit of a big friendship and trust that binds our countries. This is a day that will open a new page in the history of relations of our two countries. Today is a day which does not tell us about war but about friendship, trust and support,” Steinmeier said.

After this, Garibashvili addressed the group of people who had gathered at the museum to mark the return of the books to Germany.

Garibashvili congratulated Georgian compatriots on Independence Day and again thanked the German Government and Parliament for supporting Georgia.

He noted Georgian-German relations were long-standing in educational, cultural and archeological fields, and proposed an initiative to celebrate the 200^th anniversary of German settlement in Georgia in 2017.

To further develop relations with Germany and raise awareness and understanding of the German language in Georgia, PM Garibashvili said the Georgian Government would sell some land to the German International School "at a symbolic price”.