On February 19, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov arrived in Georgia on a two-day visit. During the visit he held talks with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Georgian President Georgi Margvelashvili and Georgian Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili. The meetings covered a wide range of Georgian-Azerbaijani relations, including cooperation in the fields of politics, economy, energy and culture.
After the meeting Foreign ministers of two countries had a joint press conference. Tamar Beruchashvili stressed that energy sphere is one of the most important fields of cooperation between Georgia and Azerbaijan.
"Georgia, as an electricity producing country and as a transit country, plays a special role together with Azerbaijan in ensuring Europe’s energy security," said Beruchashvili and added that two governments intensively cooperate in the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project, Trend.az reports.
"Naturally, the geostrategic position of Georgia and Azerbaijan allow them to develop the transport corridor between Asia and Europe as well. The project for construction of BTK railway, which will link three countries – Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey – is a proof of this cooperation,"-mentioned Beruchashvili.
Moreover, she added that during the meeting with Elmar Mammadyarov, they discussed the cooperation between the two countries in all spheres and expressed readiness to continue this cooperation.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov also emphasized the regional role of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project and mentioned that apart from the traditional energy projects, the two sides also cooperate in the joint implementation of the project for construction of BTK railway.
"BTK is a geostrategic project and we believe that Central Asian countries, Afghanistan will show interest in this project,"-said minister Mammedyarov.
Furthermore, Mammedyarov said that Azerbaijani gas will be transported to Europe in 2018-2019 through Georgia’s territory as well, adding that Georgia and Azerbaijan closely cooperate in this sphere.
Georgia and Azerbaijan are cooperating in the framework of many projects both in the spheres of energy and in communication. In the process of project planning Azerbaijan, being led by his policy of blockading Armenia, tries to plan the passing of the routes of pipelines and communications in such a way, that they bypass Armenia.