Belarusian President begins two-day Georgia visit

Georgia is hosting the president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.

Lukashenko is on his first time official visit to Georgia’s capital Tbilisi and will spend the next two days here.

The April 22-24 visit was proposed by the Belarusian side in early February, said spokesperson of Georgia’s Foreign Ministry David Kereselidze.

Already this morning Lukashenko has begun his series of meetings with Georgian high officials. Currently he is meeting with Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili, after which they will hold a press conference.

The Georgian President’s adviser Tengiz Pkhaladze highlighted that this visit will be the beginning of a "new age” between Georgia and Belarus.

According to Pkhaladze, such a high-level visit has never been paid by Belarus to Georgia before, and this made it "even more significant”.

"We have been preparing for this visit for a year. Discussions will focus on two main topics. The first one will concern our main problem – Georgia’s occupied territories, the non-recognition policy and Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Belarus’ support is very important in this regard,” he said.

Furthermore, Georgia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Tamar Beruchashvili said Belarus was a country that was committed to the territorial integrity and inviolability of borders, which was very important for Georgia.

"I am sure we will find new opportunities for cooperation,’’ she said.

Later today the Belrusian leader will meet head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Catholicos Patriarch Ilia II and visit the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, commonly known as Sameba. It is the main cathedral of the Georgian Orthodox Church, the third-tallest Eastern Orthodox cathedral in the world and one of the largest religious buildings in the South Caucasus.

Also today a collaboration document will be signed between Georgia’s Chamber of Commerce and the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Tomorrow Lukashenko will depart for Batumi, western Georgia’s Black Sea coastal city and the capital of Georgia’s autonomous Adjara region. There he will meet Adjara’s local government members and sign a document about twinning Batumi and Brest, a Belarussian city. After this he was expected to attend a number of cultural events in Batumi.