Bilateral cooperation with Kazakhstan was praised by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday and the importance of the further development of the Middle Corridor, a route connecting Central Asia and Europe via the South Caucasus, was highlighted by him in a meeting with his Kazakh counterpart Alikhan Smailov in Almaty.
The Kazakh official’s June trip to Tbilisi, where “ambitious plans and potential projects”, including the “full-scale” operation of the Corridor, also known as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, had been discussed, was recalled during the visit by the head of the Georgian Government with the aim of extending his gratitude for “warm reception and hospitality”.
The parts also signed a related roadmap, which Garibashvili called “important” in the development of the route during the visit.
The roadmap was also discussed by the PM and Chinese officials during his visit to the country between July 27-31. According to the PM, the future cooperation of the countries will be as fruitful as it was before and is now.
As Smailov stressed for his part, “great importance” was attached to cooperation in transit and transport by his Government. He also said that he welcomed partnership with Tbilisi over the development of the Corridor.
According to Smailov, volume of cargo transportation through the route had increased by 77 percent over the past six months and reached 1.3 million tons.
As he said, an additional impetus to the development of the route has been given by the agreements reached during our last meeting, and digitization, ensuring stable transportation rates and creating a single logistics operator along the Corridor have gained “special importance”.
The transit and transport potential of Georgia was also noted during the explanation of his Government’s interest in increasing the transport connectivity of the South Caucasus region.
According to the official, “close and long friendly ties and multilateral cooperation” connect Kazakhstan and Georgia. He highlighted his gratitude for a “very good atmosphere” during his Tbilisi visit and for his discussions with the Georgian PM where a “wide range of questions” had been involved.
As Smailov said, bilateral ties are further strengthened by a traditional and high-level interaction, as Kazakh Government was ready to further strengthen partnership with Georgia “based on trust and respect”. He added that Georgia is an important and reliable partner of Kazakhstan in the South Caucasus region.
The increase of bilateral trade by 30 percent over the past six months was pointed out by Smailov as the sign of “dynamically developing” cooperation and “positive trends” in trade and economy.
Kazakh Prime Minister suggested to use the possibilities of the intergovernmental commission in order to further increase trade turnover [and] the trade volumes between the countries.
Georgian Prime Minister arrived in Kazakhstan following his trip to China early on Tuesday.
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