Sofia, Bulgaria: In a significant move a memorandum has been signed between the Republic of Georgia and Bulgaria. Bulgaria and Georgia under this memorandum has recognized the certificates of sailors of each country having expertise in coastal sailing.
Guram Guramishvili Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Gerorgia signed this memorandum in Sofia. Alexi Akhvlediani the director of the Maritime Administration of the Republic of Bulgaria, Ventsislav Ivanov signed it on behalf of Bulgaria.
It is to be added that under the agreement this mutual recognition of the certificates of sailors involved in coastal sailing is very important to support the activities of Georgian sailors. At the same time, the certificates of Georgian sailors involved in coastal sailing have been already recognized by four Black Sea countries: Turkey, Romania, Ukraine, and Bulgaria, which have the potential to increase the employment opportunities and the area of the Georgian sailors in the Black Sea region.
The Georgian delegation led by the Deputy Minister held a meeting at the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Bulgaria just before signing the memorandum. In this meeting, both sides discussed ongoing projects in the maritime sector between the two countries and opportunities to deepen future cooperation.
At the same meeting both the countries have underlined the need to cooperate actively on maritime education, training, and certification, as well as on the development of direct maritime shipping. This is also worth mentioning that during a working visit to Sofia, Guram Guramishvili and Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications, Anna Mihneva Natova also discussed priority issues of the two countries, including land, sea, and rail transport.
Speaking specifically on the occasion Guram Guramishvili said “Connectivity to the Black Sea is very important for Georgia as our country has a maritime border with Bulgaria and the agreement of the cargo transportation and improvement of connectivity is an important factor in the development of the middle corridor.”
He also said, “We talked about other important issues at the meeting with my Bulgarian colleague and set specific measures, which include both infrastructure and procedure components.”
