2017-04-22
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, on April 22, held a state visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
An official welcoming ceremony was held at Iran's governmental complex. The Head of Georgian Government had a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The parties discussed the positive dynamics in the growing bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to make full use of the existing economic opportunities.
The Prime Minister emphasized that 2017 marks the 25 the anniversary of Georgia-Iran diplomatic relations and stressed the excellent preconditions for advancing the bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level.
The parties also discussed prospects of furthering cooperation on the development of the Persian Gulf-Black Sea transit corridor and in the direction of energy, agriculture, innovations, and high technology.
Giorgi Kvirikashvili was also hosted by First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri of the Islamic Republic of Iran, followed by a broader format meeting.
During the state visit, several important documents were signed, including memoranda of understanding were between the Ministries of Sport and Youth Affairs, Agriculture, and Environment Protection of Georgia and Iran, and agreements between the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology of Iran and Georgia's Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development. Agreements were signed between private sector representatives as well.
The Head of Georgian Government and the First Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran made joint press statements. According to Giorgi Kvirikashvili, the parties discussed the key issues of the two countries' bilateral cooperation, and certain agreements were reached on concrete steps toward their elaboration. "In particular, we discussed the development of the Persian Gulf-Black Sea transit corridor, also energy cooperation."
"It is commendable that during the Iranian Foreign Minister's visit, an important business forum was held for private sector actors to discuss important issues. Importantly, Georgia offers Iranian investors an exceptional business environment and free trade opportunities with Europe and EU countries. We are excited that the numbers of Iranian visitors in Georgia is growing on a daily basis, so we made a decision to boost cooperation between our tourism agencies, so that more tourists from Georgia may visit Iran.
On our end, we are committed to remove all barriers in the relations between private sector representatives to ensure the highest level of convenience in the economic cooperation between our countries," Giorgi Kvirikashvili stated.
The First Vice President of Iran thanked the Prime Minister of Georgia for his visit.
"During the previous meeting, we made certain decisions, and today we heard reports on their implementation, including the vitally important Persian Gulf-Black Sea corridor project. The starting point countries of this corridor are Iran/Azerbaijan/Georgia (Black Sea coast) or Iran/Armenia/Georgia (Black Sea coast). Equally important is the Iran-Georgia- Armenia-Russia agreement on power grid streamlining to ensure power exchange in different seasons of the year. The parties emphasized the need to establish banking ties to boost trade cooperation between our countries. I hope we will come to an agreement soon.
"We also discussed the two countries' cooperation in culture and education, and four important documents on bilateral cooperation were signed,"Eshaq Jahangiri said.
The Georgian delegation led by the Prime Minister included Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Kakha Kaladze, Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Giorgi Gakharia, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Protection Gigla Agulashvili, Minister of Agriculture Levan Davitashvili, Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Tariel Khechikashvili, and the Prime Minister's Foreign Advisor Tedo Japaridze.
Prime Minister's Press Office