Georgian, Kazakh Presidents meet in Astana

President of Georgia Giorgi Mrgvelashvili is paying an official visit to Kazakhstan.

He met with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and discussed the prospects of further strengthening trade-economic cooperation between the two countries.

"Kazakhstan is a partner of Georgia and one of the leading investors in the country and the Government of Georgia does not spare efforts to strengthen cooperation in all possible spheres and identify new areas of cooperation”, Margvelashvili said at a joint press conference with Nazarbayev.

Official welcoming ceremony at the Presidential palace in Astana. Photo: Georgian President's press office.

He congratulated Nazarbayev on a successful opening of the international exhibition EXPO 2017 in Astana, where Georgia is also presented as a hot tourist destination.

Margvelashvili invited Nazarbayev to Georgia and pointed out that such high-level visits give a significant impetus to further development of bilateral, political, trade-economic and cultural-humanitarian relations.

Nazarbayev also stressed that Georgia and Kazakhstan have great potential for the development of bilateral, trade and economic relations and more efforts should be made to fully use this potential.

"Considering international agreements signed by Georgia in the field of trade, Georgia presents favorable conditions for further expanding trade relations with Kazakhstan”, the two Presidents noted.

Georgian and Kazakh Presidents meet in Astana. Photo: Georgian President's press office.

The parties also highlighted Georgia’s role as a transit corridor connecting Europe, Caucasus and Asia and emphasised that Georgia actively works to become a logistical center in the region. Margvelashvili said that for this purpose Georgia participates in international projects, such as the new Anaklia port, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and East-West highway projects.

As underlined at the meeting, Georgia has historically been playing an important role in the Silk Road project for many years and is still involved in numerous transport projects.

The meeting has also been focused on cooperation in the area of tourism. As noted, tourism between Georgia and Kazakhstan "develops rapidly on a daily basis”.