Georgian, Azeri Presidents Pledge Friendship

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Baku on March 4 and described him as “a friend and a brother.”

“A new generation has come along and there is a new energy in our relations,” Saakashvili, Georgian newly elected President told reporters after talks with President Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heidar Aliyev last October.

“There is no alternative to our cooperation and brotherly relations,” Saakashvili added.

“Georgia and Azerbaijan are strategic partners, good neighbors and brothers,” Ilham Aliyev told reporters after talks with Mikheil Saakashvili.

Both Presidents reaffirmed commitment to accomplish strategic energy project of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. Saakashvili said that “for Georgia, the pipeline is a question of survival.”

He also said, “certain political groups under the pretext of ecological concerns and green groups will try to impede project implementation.”

“I will not allow such things to happen,” he added.

Saakashvili will visit Sangachal oil terminal on Friday before departure back to Tbilisi.

The two Presidents also discussed other aspects of economic cooperation, including simplification of border regularities “in order to make for our citizens to travel easily.”

“We also discussed synchronization of customs regulations, tariff policy, and even legal basis of two countries,” Saakashvili said.