The President of Georgia arrived in the Republic of Azerbaijan on a two day long official visit. An official greeting ceremony was held in Baku. Ilham Aliyev personally greeted Mikheil Saakashvili at the Zagulba Palace, after which the two heads of state held a bilateral meeting. The Presidents of Georgia and Azerbaijan spoke about deepening cooperation and discussed future plans and joint projects.
The sides also met with the participation of full delegations. As Mikheil Saakashvili noted during the meeting, Georgia and Azerbaijan have created a model of mutual cooperation in the region, which is exemplary for all other countries.
“We have created an alternate model to what was happening in the past. The countries of this region were not helping one another in solving problems, and had been creating additional problems for each other in the past. Thanks to Ilham Aliyev, our countries are solving problems and showing by example what bilateral relationships should be like. If every country cooperated like this with each other we would have the fastest developing region” – noted the President of Georgia.
Two documents have been signed by Azerbaijan and Georgia during the broad meeting – a memorandum of mutual understanding between the Legal Entity of Public Law - National Bureau of Statistics of Georgia and the State Committee on Statistics of Azerbaijan regarding the cooperation in the statistics sphere and between the Governments of Georgia and Azerbaijan in terms of cooperation in the sports sphere. The above-mentioned documents have been signed by the heads of the appropriate governmental bodies. Aside from this, it was stated that a Georgian cultural center will be opened in the Kakheti Region including a library and Georgian theatre.
The officials of the government of Azerbaijan and the Georgian delegation discussed the last stage details of the Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki-Kars railway project. The railway will be finished by 2013 and it will provide transportation of cargo from Northern Europe and Central Asia to the countries of Mediterranean via Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey.
The sides have discussed almost all spheres during the meeting and touched on the issues of energy, economics, tourism, culture, and sport. Trade relations between the two countries were one of the main topics of discussion.
The two Presidents later summarized the results of the meeting and made joint statements to the press. Mikheil Saakashvili and Ilham Aliyev spoke about the importance of the current relationship between the two countries, achieved agreements, and the signing of the documents today.
At the end of the day, the leaders of the two countries went to the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, where Ilham Aliyev personally took his guest, the President of Georgia, on a tour. The President of Georgia also made a note in the guestbook.
The official visit of the President of Georgia to Azerbaijan will end tomorrow.