Turkish FM: Georgia holds “special place” as Turkey’s neighbour, strategic partner

Hakan Fidan, the Turkish Foreign Minister on Thursday said Georgia “holds a special place” as Turkey’s neighbour and strategic partner, following the meeting with his Georgian counterpart Ilia Darchiashvili, who is on an official visit to the country.

Fidan highlighted the “close cooperation” in energy and transport fields, stressing “the excellent development” of bilateral relations with Georgia, with political, economic, cultural and people-to-people relations between the two countries being at the “highest level”.

The positive dynamics of economic and trade relations between Turkey and Georgia were welcomed at the meeting, the Turkish FM emphasised and pointed out that in the last 15 years Turkey “has been the largest trade partner” for Georgia.

Last year, the trade turnover increased to $3 billion and we reached the target [...] currently our goal is to increase the figure to $5 billion”, the official added.

Fidan said he had affirmed Turkey’s support for the peaceful resolution of the conflicts in Georgia’s Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia), while discussing the ongoing processes in the regions.

We support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders. Today, we once again confirmed our firm position in this context”, the Turkish Minister emphasised.

Darchiashvili and Fidan earlier today discussed matters related to strategic partnership, joint projects and existing security challenges in the South Caucasus region in a meeting in Ankara.