Georgia’s Kvirikashvili meets Turkey’s Erdogan in Ankara
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Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has met President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara last night.
The meeting took place within the frames of Kvirikashvili’s first official visit to Turkey.
"The parties discussed main aspects of the economic relations between Georgia and Turkey,” the PM’s press office said following the meeting.
Erdogan thanked the Georgian leader for the "solid support” demonstrated by the country following the recent unrest in Turkey.
Kvirikashvili reasserted his support to the people of Turkey and expressed his belief that "stable and democratic Turkey is an important guarantee of regional safety”.
Meeting w/ the President of #Turkey@RT_Erdoganpic.twitter.com/Ppc9VVGcn4
— Giorgi Kvirikashvili (@KvirikashviliGi) July 19, 2016
Within the visit Kvirikashvili met Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.
The Turkish official assessed the visit as a gesture of "great support demonstrated on the part of Georgia”. He also expressed his gratitude that the Georgian PM expressed his firm support to the Turkish people during the very first few hours of the attempted coup.
Met Binali Yildirim @TC_Basbakan.Stability in #Turkey&reinforcement of existing strategic partnership btwn our countries is important to us
— Giorgi Kvirikashvili (@KvirikashviliGi) July 19, 2016
The two officials attended the first session of the High-Level Strategic Partnership Council that was established to extend relations between Georgia and Turkey.
"The [establishment of the Council] moves our relations to the next level. This visit is very important to us. It is a clear indication of the Georgian people's support to the Turkish nation in the context of the recent developments that we witnessed," Yildirim said.
He added prospects of developing the investment potential, planned and future projects as well as historic Silk Road Project were the main conversation topics during the meeting with his Georgian counterpart.
"Turkey and Georgia share historical ties. We have moved to the strategic cooperation level. Our cooperation is also interesting in view of European integration processes,” he said.
"However, most important is our success in the bilateral relations,” he added.
The Georgian (L) and Turkish Prime Minister sign the agreement on establishing the Strategic Partnership Council. Photo by the PM's press office
Yildirim reasserted Turkey's support to the Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and underlined that Turkey welcomed Georgia becoming a member of NATO.
Kvirikashvili emphasized that close political and economic relations between Georgia and Turkey had transformed into strategic partnership.
Cooperation in the energy sector was also discussed during the meeting. The sides stressed the importance of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline-related projects. The officials believed that realisation of the South Energy Corridor projects would foster strengthening of energy safety of the countries and provision of additional volumes of energy from the Caspian Sea to the European market.
Georgia and Turkey have signed several agreements today that envisage strengthening the bilateral strategic partnership.
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Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili is in Ankara for his first official visit to Turkey today. The Georgian leader held his first meeting with Speaker of the Turkish Parliament Ismail Kahraman.
Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili has reacted to the attempted military coup in neighbouring Turkey by stressing it was "very important” for Georgia that the democratically elected government of Turkey was not under threat.
Georgia and Turkey are jointly looking at ways to deepen energy cooperation and build a hydroelectric power plant on the river Mtkvari that originates in Turkey, runs eastward across Georgia and Azerbaijan, emptying into the Caspian Sea.
Two separate terrorist attacks in Turkey yesterday claimed several lives but none of them were Georgian citizens, say official sources.
Georgia’s State Security Service (SSS) is denying information spread by several Turkish media that two men allegedly involved in the recent Turkish coup attempt are in Georgia.
No Georgian citizens are among those killed or wounded in three separate terror attacks in Turkey yesterday.
The President of Georgia has extended his greetings to the Government and people of Turkey as the nation is marking its 93rd anniversary of the day the republic was formed.