Garibashvili in New York for UNGA, Meets Foreign Leaders

Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili is attending the 76th UN General Assembly in New York during September 20-25, with his address to the GA scheduled for September 24.

As part of his bilateral meetings, the Georgian PM already met with Chancellor of Austria, President of Turkey, President of Poland, Prime Minister of Kuwait, and Hungarian Foreign Minister, among others.

At the meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, on September 21, the parties focused on Georgia’s progress towards European integration and the upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit. The two leaders also discussed the EU Economic and Investment Plan for the EaP region, and noted Georgia’s contribution to recent Afghanistan evacuations.

PM Garibashvili also participated in a high-level dialogue on Afghanistan organized by the Austrian Chancellor, where he stressed that “Georgia fully supports the commitment of the international community to support Afghan people and continues to stand by NATO and its Allies in the aftermath of the Resolute Support Mission completion.”

Prime Minister Garibashvili also met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on September 21, with the discussion focusing on regional developments. Georgian Government’s press service cited PM Garibashvili as saying that Georgia’s top objective is to support peace and stability in the region. The two leaders further discussed recent Georgia-mediated swap of war prisoners and landmine maps between Baku and Yerevan and also noted the importance of a trilateral cooperation format between Georgia-Turkey-Azerbaijan. They also touched upon deepening stretegic partnership, including political, economic, trade ties.

The PM Garibashvili also joined a dinner hosted by the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, on the same evening,  and shared Georgian “vision for integration and increased involvement between the Associated Trio [Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova] and the European Union.”

PM Garibashvili also met with Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah, on September 21, with the parties discussing the opening the Embassy of Kuwait in Tbilisi, among others.

Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani, Minister of Education and Science Mikheil Chkhenkeli, and Head of the Government Administration Ilia Darchiashvili also accompany PM Garibashvili during the New York City visit.

Foreign Affairs Minister Zalkaniani held a meeting with his Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó, on September 21. Ministers stressed the good cooperation between Georgia and Hungary in the fight against COVID-19 and the importance of expanding the dialogue with the Visegrad Group under the Hungarian Presidency.

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