German Chancellor starts official visit to Georgia
Angela Merkel will begin her South Caucasus tour with meetings in Georgia. Photo: Merkel's official page on FB
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel will arrive in Tbilisi today at 15:30.
She will begin her South Caucasus tour with meetings in Georgia.
Merkel is visiting Tbilisi for the first time since August 2008 when she payed a one day visit for the conflict-related talks during the post August 8 Russia-Georgia war days.
Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani and the Ambassador of Georgia to Germany Elguja Khokrishvili will meet her at the airport and she will hold her first meeting with the Prime Minister of Georgia Mamuka Bakhtadze.
The meeting will be followed by a joint press conference of the Chancellor Merkel and PM Bakhtadze.
“The visit of the German chancellor has high significance for us. We want to improve our bilateral cooperation with Germany and move it into a new format. Germany, as a leading country of the EU which supports Georgia’s Euro-atlantic integration, has a very important role in this process”, Ambassador Khokrishvili said, adding that the German government has a new policy towards countries in the region and the chancellor is going to discuss very important issues during her visit to Georgia including the details of meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin and topics regarding Georgia.
Angela Merkel will also meet the President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili later today.
She will leave for Armenia tomorrow and finishes her South Caucasus tour with a visit to Azerbaijan on Saturday.