Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, who started a two-day official visit to Georgia on Thursday, signed a joint declaration after the meeting, which calls for the strengthening of the existing "strategic partnership” and "elevating relations by deepening and broadening cooperation in fields of mutual interest, both in bilateral and international formats.”

"We spoke about strategic cooperation through which the two countries are linked, as well as about those long-term plans that link the Caspian and Black Seas,” Margvelashvili said.

"Our relations are based on the spirit of good neighborly relations, which has withstood serious tests. I recall 2008 [August war between Georgia and Russia], Russia’s occupation and a very principled position of Azerbaijan. Naturally, our relations will withstand any kind of tests in the future as well,” Margvelashvili said.

 

The Georgian president congratulated his Azerbaijani counterpart on "the very successful parliamentary elections” held in Azerbaijan on November 1.

"We discussed extensively further possibilities opening up in energy and transport projects. I am glad that there is not a single issue on which we have disagreement with Georgia,” President Aliyev said.

"We are friends; we are brothers,” the Azerbaijani president added. 

  

The Azerbaijani president’s visit captures Georgian media’s interests mostly in the context of Tbilisi’s ongoing talks with Gazprom over possible purchase of gas from Russia.

According to Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze, Georgia will have to buy gas from Gazprom for commercial entities, not for households, on top of what the country is already receiving from Russia as a transit fee, claiming that "there is no possibility” to import additional volumes from Azerbaijan, which is Georgia’s main gas supplier; households in Georgia consume gas supplied from Azerbaijan. According to Kaladze, additional gas will be required for commercial entities to fill the gap amid the increasing total gas consumption in Georgia, which he said is expected to reach 2.5 billion cubic meters in 2015, a 27 percent increase since 2012. According to the Georgian Energy Ministry, the country may face the gap till 2019 before the second phase of Shah Deniz project becomes operational.

After it emerged that Tbilisi was in talks with Gazprom, Georgia’s PM Irakli Garibashvili paid a brief and unannounced visit to Baku on October 1o where he met President Aliyev, triggering speculation in Tbilisi that the surprise visit aimed at mending ties after potential fallout caused by Tbilisi’s suggestions over Gazprom gas supplies.

 

Kaladze, who is also a deputy PM, was present along some other officials at talks between the Georgian and Azerbaijani Presidents in Tbilisi on November 5. He told journalists that the issue of Georgia’s talks with Gazprom was not at all brought up during the meeting with the Azerbaijani President.

When speaking about the importance of energy transit routes to Europe and about Shah Deniz phase II project, President Aliyev said after talks with his Georgian counterpart that Azerbaijan has huge natural gas reserves – enough to provide gas for next hundred years not only for its own domestic consumption, but for supplying it to neighbors and Europe.

President Aliyev said that Georgia and Azerbaijan should agree on unified policies on cargo transit. "It will help increase cargo turnover through our countries; I hope that it will be possible,” he said.

(Civil Georgia)