The tête-à-tête meeting between the Presidents of Georgia and France was held at Elysees Palace today.
An official welcoming ceremony of the National Guard of France at Elysees Palace courtyard was specially held for the President of Georgia MikheilSaakashvili and the First Lady Sandra Elizabeth Roelofs. The hosts NikolaSarkozy and Carla Bruni met the President of Georgia and the First Lady at stairs. After protocol of welcoming, tête-à-tête meetings started at Elysees Palace. The main topic of discussion was economic and political support and new partnership relations. The most important issue discussed during this meeting was the ongoing process of thesix-point peace plan and the obligations not fulfilled by Russia. It is also very important that in several days NikolaSarkozy will meet VladimerPutin at the very same Palace and they will discuss above-mentioned issues. MikheilSaakashvili made a statementafter the meeting with the President of France:
"We have discussed all the issues, including the assistance by the European Union and France; issues related with Russia's non-fulfillment of ceasefire agreement as well as Georgia's further integration into NATO and bilateral relations. Also long meeting was held between Sandra Roelofs and Carla Bruni. I think it is a very important visit for us because we have the major state in the European Union, which supports Georgia in every issue completely, absolutely, without any preconditions and reservations. I was the first foreign leader, who was invited here on a working visit after the election of President Sarkozy; but this is the first and the most important official visit for us. I have meetings with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs; yesterday I met with the Vice-Premier, also the Head of Elysees Administration and the General Secretary of Elysees Palace. As you know a grand cultural program is planned in the frames of this visit. Personally I do not remember such a wide-scale event held in one week, where Georgia was presented this way in Europe. All these happens by a very big support of President Sarkozy and on the other hand it also demonstrates the fact that we have become more European country", the President of Georgia stated.
The meeting between Sandra Elizabeth Roelofs and Carla Bruni was held at Elysees Palace as well. The main topic of their discussion was the cooperation of Georgia and France in cultural and healthcare spheres.