Tuvalu’s PM Telavi Visits Abkhazia

Prime Minister of Tuvalu, tiny South Pacific island nation which recognized Georgia’s two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia last September, visits Sokhumi where he met with Abkhaz leader Alexander Ankvab on March 7.

This is second visit of Tuvalu’s PM Willy Telavi to breakaway Abkhazia following his first trip to the region in September, 2011.

PM Telavi (his second name is similar to the one of the main town of Kakheti region in eastern Georgia) arrived in Sokhumi after “a stopover” in Moscow, where he met with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Tuvalu’s delegation was visiting Abkhazia “in connection to upcoming parliamentary elections” on March 10.

Abkhaz leader Alexander Ankvab told Tuvalu’s PM that despite of geographical distance “cooperation between our countries is ongoing,” Abkhaz news agency Apsnipress reported.

Georgia cut diplomatic relations with Tuvalu in February – five months after the island nation recognized breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia and a year after Georgia established diplomatic ties with Tuvalu.