Prime Minister: "Azerbaijan is a strategic partner of Georgia"

"Azerbaijan is a strategic partner of Georgia".

Qazet.az reports that Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili said this in a joint statement to the press with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on October 24.

According to him, there is an unparalleled friendship and close relations between the two countries: "Those relations are based on historical ties and mutual respect. I am sure that our existing cooperation will rise to a higher level for the sake of the welfare of our countries and peoples."

"We discussed the processes currently taking place in the world and we agreed that the events taking place in Ukraine today should be resolved through negotiations. The events taking place in the world should be resolved only through peace and stability for our region and our peoples. We consider the regional situation, especially the contacts on the territory of Azerbaijan and Armenia, we also reviewed the peace process between the two countries. We hope that I personally and our government will do our best to implement a peace policy. Good neighborly relations in the region are not against any format of cooperation, they will only strengthen it, and I am sure that we can do a lot together. Mr. President, I want to support the initiative you put forward in Prague to create a cooperation format in the South Caucasus," said I. Garibashvili.

The prime minister emphasized that they also discussed economy, energy, and transport issues: "Georgia is an important country for Azerbaijan, and at the same time Azerbaijan is a strategic partner of Georgia. We are reviewing the important projects we have already implemented. These are historical projects. This is Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku - Tbilisi-Erzurum oil and gas pipelines and the Middle Corridor projects. The projects we have implemented will be carried forward from now on and we intend to speed up the work even more."