The Prime Minister of Georgia said his Government was interested in “further strengthening” partnership and cooperation with Azerbaijan and Central Asian states by saying the ties would “bring more prosperity and stability” to partners.

In his remarks at the ongoing Economic Forum of the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia in Baku, Irakli Garibashvili highlighted the significance of the Middle Corridor [a transportation route network connecting China with Europe through the South Caucasus].

“The Corridor is becoming an interesting alternative to the existing routes connecting Europe and Asia considering the growing importance of diversification and expansion of trade on the East-West route.

The Middle Corridor on the Eurasian continent is positioned as the fastest, most economical and reliable channel for the delivery of cargo and hydrocarbon resources. Therefore, together with our Azerbaijani and Kazakh colleagues, we are actively working to remove the obstacles in this Corridor and focus on improving infrastructure, increasing capacity, simplifying procedures and introducing a unified tariff system.

We are also working together on the Black Sea submarine electricity cable project, which was signed last year in Bucharest by the leaders of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Hungary and Romania. We think that this project will be very interesting not only for our region, but also for Europe.

We are actively working with Azerbaijan on the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, which will be completed in 2024. The Government is also making a substantial capital investment in the [domestic] East-West Highway project. We are also working on the development of a new airport that has the potential to become a regional transit aviation hub”, - said Irakli Garibashvili.

He also noted the “centuries-old” neighbourly relations between Georgia and Azerbaijan and called the latter a “valuable neighbour” and “strategic partner”, while also noting ties between the two countries were at the “highest level”.