Georgian delegation led by PM visits Ankara, capital of Turkey

Georgia: The visit of the Georgian delegation, led by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, to Ankara, Turkey’s capital, on Thursday, May 16, 2024.

Among the members of the delegation was Georgian Minister of Education, Science and Youth Giorgi Amilakhvari, who met his colleague, Turkish Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, during the visit.

At the meeting, the parties stressed the importance of deepening the partnership between the countries and speeding up the signing of the agreement to strengthen cooperation in education.

Giorgi Amilakhvari expressed his readiness to implement joint projects in all fields of education. As he noted, the ministers of the two countries agreed to strengthen ties between Georgia and Turkey’s vocational and higher education institutions.

On Thursday, Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili also said that the country’s relations with Turkey and covered “many directions”, in comments made after signing a memorandum of energy cooperation. 

“Energy is one of the areas where we have very successful cooperation. We are neighboring countries and today; electricity is continuously exported from Georgia to Turkey”, he said.

“We also have investments in energy from Turkey. It is about making this cooperation even closer and increasing opportunities, including investing in transmission infrastructure, which will allow us to have even more economic connections,” Davitashvili added.

The Minister said officials from the two countries discussed the “most important strategic transport projects” and “significant” initiatives in Georgia and Turkey’s possible involvement in them.

He added Turkey was “one of the most important and largest” trade partners of Georgia.

We had conversations on deepening trade relations, investments, transport direction, energy, and more. The leaders of the two countries also discussed this”, he said.

It is noteworthy that in the first half of the day, the Prime Minister’s official welcoming ceremony was held at President Erdogan’s Palace, after which a bilateral meeting was held between Irakli Kobakhidze and the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During the visit, members of the Georgian delegation honored the memory of the founder of the Republic of Turkey and its first president, Ataturk, and decorated his memorial with a wreath.

At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed that procedures for signing a relevant contract to strengthen partnership in education will be accelerated, and active work will continue in this direction.