Thursday, October 25, 2007, #204 (1471)

Israel concerned with Georgia-Iranian relations
By Eter Tsotniashvili

Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili says Georgia can’t afford to ignore Iran

Israel expressed concern over Georgia’s relations with Iran this week as Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili paid an official visit to Jerusalem.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni spoke of “the problematic view Israel has of the ongoing dialogues between Georgia and Iran,” in a meeting with her Georgian counterpart on October 23, according to an Israeli Foreign Ministry press release.

Israel wants the UN to apply economic sanctions on Iran and has expressed alarm at the possibility of an Iranian nuclear development program.

On Tuesday, Bezhuashvili talked of increasing strategic cooperation with Israel, which commentators have taken to mean wanting more arms sales.

“We are interested in a strategic partnership with Israel at the same level as our strategic partnership with the United States,” Bezhuashvili commented in an interview with Israeli newspaper Haaretz, although he did not outline exactly what he had in mind.

Until 2005, Georgia and Israel enjoyed significant military cooperation, which included Israeli military advisers assisting Georgia, according to Haarezt, and an agreement with the Israeli company Elbit Systems, a defense electronics maker, to upgrade 25 Georgian MIG fighter jets.
News reports at the time suggested that Israel was supplying tens of millions of dollars worth of equipment to Georgia. However, Russian pressure curtailed the cooperation in 2005, leaving Israel to sell only defensive equipment to Georgia.

Bezhuashvili said that Georgia had little leeway when it came to discussing relations with Iran, and underlined Georgia’s economic ties with the nearby country.
“Georgia is obliged to agree with a nearby country which is influential and one of our main investor countries,” he said, adding that he had information that Iranian businessmen planned to invest in Georgia next summer.

In August it emerged that Iran may supply natural gas to Georgia from 2008 onwards, as part of Tbilisi’s efforts to diversify its energy suppliers. In January 2006 Georgia temporarily received natural gas from Iran after an gas pipeline explosion shut off the Russian supply.
As far back as 2004 Saakashvili talked of a strategic partnership between the two countries during an official visit to Tehran.

According to the Georgian Ministry of Economic Development, Iran imported the equivalent of USD 26 million of Georgian goods in 2005 and the trade turnover between the two countries totalled USD 31 million that year.

Political expert Archil Gegeshidze told the Messenger that Georgia had little political leverage over Iran anyway, and suggested that Georgian relations with Israel would remain stable, partly because of the high number of Georgians in Israel and Jewish people in Georgia.



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