The President of Hungary János Áder, who is on his first official visit to Georgia on September 4-6, met with his counterpart, President Salome Zurabishvili today, pledging to deepen their countries’ ties.
Following their meeting, Áder and Zurabishvili made press remarks at the new presidential palace on Atoneli Street. “I remain thankful for President Áder’s strong support of our territorial integrity, our Euro-Atlantic integration, and our cooperation in education, culture, trade and tourism,” Zurabishvili wrote on her Twitter.
Today, President János Áder is paying his first official visit to #Georgia. ?????? pic.twitter.com/wwa2L5tq78
— Orbeliani Presidential Palace (@GeorgiaPres) September 5, 2019
According to the Georgian President, at the meeting, “traditionally,” they first discussed the occupied territories, the situation along the occupation line and the “necessity for the peaceful resolution of this conflict.”
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In this context, in her remarks, Zurabishvili reiterated her earlier claims on “renewing” the existing Geneva International Discussions (GID), the multilateral forum for addressing the security and humanitarian consequences of the Russo-Georgian War of August 2008.
“We need to renew, strengthen the Geneva format, to make it possible to launch real negotiations aimed to solve this situation and remove escalation,” she said.
During press remarks, Zurabishvili also said they discussed student exchange programs between the two countries. Georgian President said she welcomes strengthening existing cooperation as with studying in Hungary “Georgian students get real European experience in this way.”
Zurabishvili also said that the two Presidents spoke of Hungarian low-cost air carrier Wizz Air as “one of the strong tools” that helps Georgia during its recent “tourism boom.”
As part of his visit to Georgia, the Hungarian President also met with Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze. He has also scheduled to meet with the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) and visit the occupation line near village Odzisi adjacent to Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)