Georgian PM, Azerbaijani President hail “centuries-old” ties in Baku meeting

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Friday hailed the “centuries-old” neighbourly relations between their countries in a meeting held during the Economic Forum of the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia running in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

The Georgian official was invited to the event as a special guest by Aliyev, the Government Administration said.

Their meeting discussed the “strategic” cooperation in trade, economy, energy, transport and logistics, as well as prospects for development of the Middle Corridor - a transportation route network connecting China with Europe through the South Caucasus region - through modernisation of railways and expansion of ports and roads.

The meeting noted Azerbaijan was one of the “leading” trading partners of Georgia.

The construction of the East-West Highway in Georgia and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project were also among the discussed topics. The officials said the railway would become a part of the Europe-South Caucasus-Asia railway corridor in the future.

The meeting also discussed the Black Sea submarine electricity cable project, intended to connect the grids of the South Caucasus and European Union member states. 

Garibashvili and Aliyev reviewed security issues in the region and the wider world and expressed hope for a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia over their long-running conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region “very soon”.