Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has announced the normalization of relations with Ukraine during her trip to Kyiv, the first official visit of Georgian president to Ukraine in 15 years.
“On April 23, 2020, I expressed regret because of the problems in our relations [Georgia and Ukraine]. And on April 9, when we [next year] celebrate Independence Day in Georgia, I do not want it to end without expressing support for Ukraine as a sign of solidarity,” Zourabichvili said during a briefing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on June 23, Interfax reports.
She noted that “relations between Ukraine and Georgia are returning to the norm, which is based on two main principles, namely the age-old friendship of peoples and support for sovereignty and territorial integrity between the countries.”
According to Zourabichvili, the presidents of Ukraine and Georgia should be careful about relations between the countries.
She also added that in 2022 both countries would celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Ukrainian-Georgian relations.
Zourabichvili noted that the common goals of Ukraine and Georgia are the de-occupation of territories, the Euro-Atlantic path and the growth of cooperation, the press-service of Ukrainian president reports.
For his part, Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed his Georgian counterpart to Ukraine and noted that this first official visit in 15 years is extremely important for strengthening the strategic partnership between the two countries.
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He added that stated the strategic partnership between Ukraine and Georgia must be filled with real content and concrete projects. According to him, one of the key tasks for Ukraine and its partners is to strengthen security cooperation in the Black Sea Region.
“The Black Sea must be a safe area free for trade and navigation. We seek to strengthen cooperation between our countries, the fleets of partner countries in the Black Sea. We are actively working on the implementation of this initiative with Georgia and other neighbors, and I hope we will see concrete progress soon,” Ukrainian president said.
He voiced hope for active cooperation with the Georgia within the Crimean Platform in order to protect the rights of Crimeans and ensure the de-occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula.
“For my part, I want to reaffirm Ukraine’s strong support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders,” Zelensky said.
Zourabichvili assured that Georgia would be represented at the summit of the Crimean Platform at a high level.
In addition, Zelensky underlined that Georgia is an important trade partner for Ukraine in the South Caucasus.
“I am confident that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we will significantly intensify trade and economic cooperation this year, reinforcing the positive trends of the beginning of this year, when our trade turnover increased by almost 25%. This will be one of the main tasks of the Joint Ukrainian-Georgian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation. We strive to resume its activities and hold the next, tenth meeting in September this year,” said Ukraine’s president.
Also, according to him, it is necessary to strengthen coordination in the field of people-to-people contacts and tourism, especially against the backdrop of the ongoing pandemic.
“Mutual recognition of vaccination documents is on the agenda, which will simplify the border crossing procedure for citizens of both countries to a maximal degree,” Zelensky said.
Presidents also discussed the issue of repatriation of citizens of our countries, who are currently detained in Ukraine and Georgia.
“We expect that the legal proceedings in these cases will be completed and these people will return home in the near future,” the Ukrainian President said.
He also noted that Ukraine and Georgia, having common European aspirations, should take care of energy security. In particular, the parties agreed to make this issue a priority of further cooperation.
As reported, in May 2020, Georgia recalled its ambassador to Kyiv for consultations in connection with the appointment of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to the post of head of the executive committee of the National Reform Council under the President of Ukraine.
Georgia called Saakashvili’s new appointment unacceptable. The ex-president is convicted in absentia and is put on the wanted list at home.
On April 22, Georgian Ambassador to Ukraine Teimuraz Sharashenidze returned to Kyiv after a long break.
In 2015-2016, Saakashvili served as governor of Odesa Oblast under Zelensky’s predecessor, Petro Poroshenko. However, he fell out with Poroshenko and was subsequently stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship, prosecuted and deported from Ukraine in what he believes to be a political repression.
Saakashvili returned to Ukraine in 2019, when Zelensky restored his Ukrainian citizenship.
