Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili on Wednesday paid an official visit to Azerbaijan where he met president Ilham Aliev and other Azerbaijani officials.
Welcoming the Georgian Prime Minister to Baku president Aliev said Georgian-Azerbaijani relations "are based on history, fraternity and close neighborhood of our people. Today we maintain an active dialogue in all areas - in the political and economic fields. We are linked with successfully developing projects in transport and energy fields that benefit our countries and peoples. We are very pleased with the progress of bilateral relations between our countries. I am confident that your visit will contribute to deepening and strengthening our relations. We are bound together by ties of history, geography, coincidence of interests and, as I already noted, by transnational energy and transport projects. The well-being of our countries and peoples and stability in our region depends on the realization and success of those projects", the president said.
On his part the Georgian Prime Minister stated: "We spare no effort to support reinforcement of our neighbourly relations that have truly strategic character. As you already noted, we share friendship, and regional and global projects that are crucial for the well-being of our nations and further reinforcement of our friendship".
On Monday, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov was in Tbilisi for meetings with the Georgian leadership.
Commonspace.eu political editor said that "Georgian-Azerbaijani relations have developed and consolidated over the last two decades and now form the backbone for regional co-operation. The two countries need each other in different ways and have found a way of turning this into a solid bond of friendship. As is to be expected there are also issues that unless well managed can spoil these relationships and the two sides need to be careful how to manage them. On its part Georgia also needs to balance its good relations with Azerbaijan with equally good relations with Armenia. The Georgian prime minister is expected in Yerevan soon. Georgia has a role to play to improve relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and it must not shy away from doing so whenever the opportunity arises"
Source: commonspace.eu with agencies
Photo: The president of Azerbaijan received Georgian premier Giorgi Kvirkashvili in Baku on Wednesday, 31 August 2016 (picture courtesy of the press service of the president of Azerbaijan).