Georgia-Azerbaijani vow to boost trade turnover
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, September 7
Senior Georgia and Azerbaijani officials stressed the importance of the growth of the trade turnover between the two nations, as “the potential is big in this regard.”
The statement came after Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze’s visit to Azerbaijan on September 6, where he met with the Azerbaijani President and participated in a trilateral meeting of the Georgian, Turkish and Azerbaijani foreign ministers.
Janelidze and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev have agreed to contribute to the growth of trade turnover between the two countries.
For this they considered the possibility of setting up trade houses in each country which would enhance trade-economic ties, Georgia’s Foreign Ministry announced.
“The Azerbaijani President and Georgian Foreign Minister welcomed the effective implementation of strategic transport and energy projects in Georgia, and expressed the hope that construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will be completed this year,” Georgia’s Foreign Ministry reported.
The officials spoke about co-operation within international formats.
Special attention was paid to co-operation within GUAM.
The GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development is a regional organization of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova.
GUAM's charter was signed during a summit in Yalta in June 2001 by the four current members and Uzbekistan, which later withdrew.
The charter set objectives for cooperation, such as promoting democratic values, ensuring stable development, enhancing international and regional security and stepping up European integration.
Janelidze reaffirmed the initiative of Georgia as the Chair of GUAM to mark the tenth anniversary of this organization
Janelidze thanked President Aliyev for Azerbaijan`s assistance to Georgia during the recent wildfires in Borjomi and Abastumani.
Janelidze arrived in Baku after his first official visit to Belarus on September 4-5.
