The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and a Vice Prime Minister, Mikheil Janelidze, began a two-day official visit to Belarus on September 4. The same day, Minister Janelidze met with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk.
Both sides stressed historically friendly relationships between the two countries and discussed the possibilities for the intensification of cooperation.
President Lukashenko stressed that the two countries have a lot in common that has pushed “us to continue very close cooperation and friendly relations with Georgian people."
"We are always ready to work together and cooperate. You are not strangers to us,” said the President of Belarus. “There are many joint pages in our history.”
Janelidze thanked the President for the Belarus’ assistance in recent crisis in Borjomi gorge in Georgia.
During the official visit, a program of cooperation between the Georgian and Belarusian Foreign Ministries for 2018-2019 was signed by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Vladimir Makei and Minister Janelidze in Minsk, on Monday.
The Ministers of the two countries expressed hope that further cooperation will be strengthened between Belarus and Georgia, both in bilateral and multilateral directions. The Press conference was transmitted live on twitter by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus.
Prior to the signing ceremony, the ministers a held face to face meeting and praised the intensification of co-operation between Georgia and Belarus in recent years, which was further promoted by the exchange of high-level visits.
The Ministers welcomed the activities of the inter-governmental economic commission and the growth of trade turnover, which increased by 25% over the past 7 months.
Janelidze noted that Georgia, with its regional transit functions and infrastructural and energy projects, may become increasingly interesting to Belarus.
“Economic co-operation between Georgia and Belarus will bring benefits not only to the two countries but will also contribute to ensuring the development and stability of the region,” the minister added.
He thanked his Belarusian counterpart for his government’s support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Vladimir Makei expressed his readiness to participate in the Silk Road Forum scheduled in Tbilisi for November.
It was emphasized that the summit scheduled for 24 November will give a new impetus to the development of partnership and result-oriented co-operation.
The Georgian Foreign Minister was also hosted by the Vice Prime Minister of Belarus, Mikhail Rusiy.
The officials discussed the activities of the Belarus-Georgia Inter-governmental Economic Commission and specific areas of cooperation.
Special attention was paid to the high potential of co-operation in such areas as agriculture, machine building, tourism and sport infrastructure.
Janelidze paid tribute to the Victory Monument in Minsk, which was built in 1954 in honor of the soldiers of the Soviet Army and partisans of Belarus.
On September 2, the third festival of Georgian culture “Tbilisoba 2017” was held in Minsk. It was organized by the Georgian Embassy, Company Borjomi, Tbilisi City Hall and Minsk City Executive Committee.
The festival was opened by the Chairman of Minsk City Executive Committee Andrei Shorets, Mayor of Tbilisi David Narmania, and Ambassador of Georgia to the Republic of Belarus, David Kotaria.
Belarus and Georgia established diplomatic relations in 1992. Both countries have embassies in the capital cities.
