Baku, October 9, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today received Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia.

Welcoming Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Dear Prime Minister. I cordially welcome you to Azerbaijan. Welcome to our country!

First of all, I wholeheartedly congratulate you once again on being elected as Prime Minister and wish you every success. You have been to Azerbaijan many times. I recall meetings with you with a feeling of deep satisfaction. This time you are visiting Azerbaijan as Prime Minister of a fraternal country. This is your first foreign visit in this capacity, which is very pleasing to us. You are paying your first visit to Azerbaijan, which is further evidence that Azerbaijan is one of the most important and closest partners for Georgia. For us, Georgia is also the closest partner and one of the closest countries. Our common history and a common geographic space are an excellent basis for developing our relations. In the years of independence, our relations have successfully developed and cover many areas today. In international organizations, we support each other's territorial integrity and successfully cooperate within these organizations.

I am glad that excellent results have been achieved in the economic sphere. Azerbaijan is one of biggest investors in the Georgian economy. Our joint oil, gas and transport projects have gone beyond the bilateral format and are now of global importance. Of course, contacts between people have a special importance. The Azerbaijanis living in Georgia and the Georgians living in Azerbaijan are the most important factor in the development of these ties. Once again – greetings and "Welcome!".

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said:

- Mr. President, thank you for the warm and cordial welcome. It is a great honor for me to be paying my first foreign visit to Azerbaijan. It is no coincidence that we are paying our first visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan. We made this decision in order to prove to friends and enemies that there are no and cannot be any unresolved issues between Azerbaijan and Georgia.

I remember our meetings with you – we talked about all issues frankly. It was a great experience for me. As you noted, Azerbaijan and Georgia are closest friendly and fraternal countries. Indeed, our cooperation and partnership have gone beyond regional frames and risen to the international plane, in particular, in matters of economics, transport and trade. Georgia and Azerbaijan always support each other in international formats. I express my gratitude to you for your support in a very important issue for us - the territorial integrity of Georgia.

Of course, warm and friendly relations between our citizens are also very important. The relations between our peoples are cultural ties that date centuries back. The relations between our peoples have a great history.

I am sure that my current visit and today's meetings will be very fruitful and will once again demonstrate to friends and enemies that the relations between Georgia and Azerbaijan are always friendly. There are no unresolved issues between them and they can always find a way out of any problem.

Thank you again for your warm welcome.

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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia then had a working dinner.