Georgian PM Meets Ukrainian Leaders in Kyiv
As part of his three-day Ukraine visit, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili held meetings with Ukrainian leaders, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, PM Denys Shmyhal, and Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov.
During the meeting with President Zelenskyy on August 22, the parties discussed strategic partnership, security challenges – particularly in the Black Sea region, as well as deepening cooperation within the Associated Trio format, established through a memorandum signed among Georgian, Ukrainian, and Moldovan Foreign Ministers in May 2021 and envisaging cooperation on common issues of European integration.
According to the press service of the Ukrainian President, the two leaders noted the “high dynamics” of the Ukrainian-Georgian dialogue on deepening the strategic partnership and agreed to hold the first meeting of the High-Level Strategic Council, a bilateral framework established in 2019 between the two countries to cover multiple policy directions.
President Zelenskyy praised Georgia’s strong support for the Crimea Platform, a Ukrainian diplomatic initiative aimed at strengthening international coordination efforts against Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, thanking Georgian PM for his participation in the inaugural summit attended by leaders and representatives of more than 40 nations and organizations.
The parties also reaffirmed mutual support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the two countries and expressed gratitude for each other’s supportive stances.
In Kyiv, Georgian PM also met with his Ukrainian counterpart PM Shmyhal, who had welcomed and hosted PM Garibashvili upon his arrival in Lviv the day before.
“I am confident that the official visit of my colleague – Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia – will give us an opportunity to focus on the discussion of practical steps to be made by our countries towards intensification of our strategic cooperation,” the Ukrainian PM said in joint press remarks after the meeting.
PM Shmyhal said that the meeting focused, among others, on bilateral relations, particularly with respect to EU/NATO accession and engagement of two countries into the dialogue on the Black Sea security. The Ukrainian and Georgian colleagues also discussed economic and trade cooperation, with the Ukrainian PM expressing interest “in the intensive development of railway transit potential between Georgia and Ukraine.” The parties agreed to continue joint work with the European Commission in relevant directions.
PM Garibashvili, on his part, stressed mutual Euro-Atlantic aspirations as well as “identical” problems and challenges faced by two countries, drawing attention to the Associated Trio framework. “Three nations – Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia – may truly demonstrate a lot of success stories to the international community and prove to our partners that we as a Trio can be successful states, truly deserving accession to the EU and NATO,” he remarked.
In a meeting with Dmytro Razumkov, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, discussions focused on the territorial integrity of Ukraine and Georgia and the development of political dialogue, as well as on the cooperation between the legislative authorities of the two countries.
During his August 21-23 visit, PM Garibashvili is accompanied in Ukraine by Vice Prime Minister, Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani, Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze, and Head of the Government’s Administration Ilia Darchiashvili. The visit comes as a sign of continued warming of relations between Tbilisi and Kyiv, strained during May 2020 – April 2021 over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s appointment of ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to the Executive Reform Committee.
Also Read:
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)