Georgian officials hail centuries-old friendship, “close partnership” with Israel at meetings with Knesset chair

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Monday hailed “26 centuries-old friendship” and “ dynamically developing” cooperation at meetings with the visiting Knesset chair Amir Ohana. 

 

“Gregorian and Jewish people are connected by 26 centuries-old friendship that creates a solid foundation for the development of fruitful and multidimensional cooperation between Georgia and Israel”, Papuashvili said. 

 

He noted the meeting with his Israeli counterpart in Tbilisi had discussed Parliamentary and other cooperation. 

 

“We are grateful to Israel for supporting Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, policy of non-recognition of occupied regions. We welcome the growing dynamics of high-level visits between our countries in the recent period”, Papuashvili said, pointing to “strong” legislative ties. 

 

Papuashvili also expressed hopes negotiations on signing a free trade agreement with Israel would begin next year, which he said was expected to create even more opportunities in bilateral cooperation. 

 

Ilia Darchiashvili, the Georgian Foreign Minister, stressed ties were developing both in bilateral and multilateral formats, while also discussing the prospects for further strengthening of cooperation.