2016-06-15
„We see the great success and great progress achieved by Georgia. Let us go ahead, step-by-step"- these are the words through which Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany addressed Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia, at the joint press conference held after the meeting of the heads of governments of the two countries.
The Chancellor of Germany emphasized that mutual relations between Georgia and Germany are very good; this is proved by the current visit of Prime Minister of Georgia to Germany and by the visit of the Foreign Minister of Germany to Georgia, which is planned in July.
„On the 25th anniversary of Georgia's independence, we have very good and friendly relations and our today's meeting has been conducted in this spirit. We talked on mutual relationship. We mentioned that it is good that 2017 had been declared the year of friendship between Georgia and Germany; and it is good that Georgia will participate in the 2018 Frankfurt Book Fair as a guest country. This will enable many Germans to get acquainted with Georgian culture, Georgian writers better"- the Chancellor declared.
Angela Merkel mentioned that Germany cooperates with Georgia individually and within the frame of joint projects of EU and NATO.
According to Chancellor, Germany observes with interest economic reforms and liberalization process of economy taking place in Georgia.
„I think this is important and excellent base for improvement economic relations with German enterprises. We have especially close contacts in the building sector and we can place all this on more stable fundament. Prime Minster met many German companies today. Perhaps they do not have sufficient information on the great success of Georgia. If we look through the world ratings in terms of competitiveness and transparency, we can see that Georgia achieved important success" - Angela Markel said.
According to Chancellor, the speech also dealt with the implementation of the Association Agreement that contributed to the increasing economic contacts between Georgia and EU countries.
„We are very happy Georgia is taking very pragmatic steps towards Russia despite the main topic remains in the agenda. We support territorial integrity of Georgia and of course, we mean Abkhazia and South Ossetia. We are pleased that there are humanitarian contacts, as well as contacts between people of these regions and we welcome Georgia's efforts to achieve success in Geneva format" - Angela Merkel mentioned.
Chancellor of the Germany said that she spoke with the Prime Minister of Georgia on visa liberalization. They also spoke on the same topic on the phone last week.
„European Commission determined that Georgia met all criteria for visa liberalization. Today we speak on the timeframe for taking final decision on visa liberalization. Last week, during the speech on the phone, I also mentioned that we would discuss visa liberalization in the context of suspension mechanism and it would not be directly linked with Georgia. However, generally, if we face many difficulties with regard to this issue, for example, if especially large numbers of citizens of some country come and request political asylum in EU, as it was the case in Serbia last year, we do not want to face such problem repeatedly and that is why we want to use suspension mechanism. Decision on this issue will be taken by the European Parliament. I hope that decision will be taken very soon; there will be the voting at the European Parliament on visa liberalization for Georgian citizens" - Angela Merkel said.
The Chancellor of Germany thanked the Prime Minister of Georgia for his visit to Germany and wished him success „on the difficult but very ambitious way".
„Germany will be your friend and good partner", Angela Merkel told to the Prime Minister of Georgia.
The head of the government of Georgia thanked the Chancellor of Germany for strong support and warm receipt. Giorgi Kvirikashvili invited Angela Merkel to Georgia to mark together the year of Georgia-Germany friendship.
„I am pleased that as the prime minister I have visited Germany for the first time - the country with which we have had very close cultural and economic relations during centuries; these links have especially deepened during last several years. We are happy that relationship between Georgia and Germany reaches the new scale. Business forum held today in the morning and attended by more than 150 German companies is the clear evidence that economic relations between us will become more active. Thank Federal Republic of Germany very much, the country that during the last 25 years has strongly supported territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia"- the Prime Minister declared.
According to Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Germany's support and cooperation is also valuable in the field of education. The number of those young Georgians who, under the financial support of German institutions and foundations, have been studying and carrying out scientific work in Germany for many years is impressive.
The Prime Minister said that the speech also dealt with deepening cooperation in the field of professional education.
„We put particular emphasis on sharing the experience of Germany - one of the leader countries in this area. Hence, representatives of Ministries of Education will sign the Memorandum that will be very helpful in terms of implementing planned reforms.
We realize the importance of cooperation with Germany in other areas as well. I would like to emphasize once more that currently more than 300 German enterprises are operational in Georgia. We consider that we have still not exploited the full potential that exists between our countries in this area. I have to note that starting from September, direct flight to Berlin will be added to existing direct flights, thus increasing contacts between our nations. We are glad that over 36,000 German visitors came last year, and the numbers of German tourists is increasing on annual basis. Georgia is a very attractive touristic destination and last year around 6 million tourists visited Georgia", the Prime Minister said.
According to Giorgi Kvirikashvili, the Georgian side whishes more Georgian tourists and businesspersons to visit Germany. For this purpose, the question of visa liberalization has been discussed with the Chancellor of Germany.
As the Prime Minister mentioned, after signing Association Agreement with EU and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreement, the possibility for Georgian citizens to pay short-term visits to European countries without visas will be the most important step forward to Georgia's integration into Europe.
„To achieve said result, starting from 2013 we implemented number of reforms, reinforced our institutional as well as legislative capacities to ensure that Europe feels secure when the case comes to the visa-free travel from Georgia. It is also worth noting that we intensified cooperation between our respective Ministries of Interior, we concluded relevant inter-state agreement, allocated Policing Attaché in our Embassy, and established close practical partnership. Minister of Interior of Georgia is visiting Germany with me - this is his second visit to your country and this March, Head of Federal Criminal Agency of Germany also visited Georgia. This showcases the high-level cooperation between our relevant agencies, which has already brought some positive results. I have spoken with the Chancellor on this issue and I guaranteed her my personal support for the improvement of cooperation to this purpose. This will be very important" - the Prime Minister said.
According to Giorgi Kvirikashvili, he also spoke with the Chancellor on the challenges the Europe is facing with. He said that Georgia and Germany work together to achieve peace and stability in the region.
„We are the small country, but we stand with pride next to Europe and NATO in various international missions and in struggling against terrorism. We are taking firm steps towards integration to the NATO and we have talked on the importance of Warsaw summit for this purpose. I want to thank the German side for its most important contribution to implementation of the NATO-Georgia substantial package at the Wales Summit. For all of us in Europe it is vitally important the Europe to be the unified and integrated and to achieve the peace. For this, it is necessary to continue the process of democratic transformation of east Europe successfully. European future is historic, conscious and firm choice of Georgian nation. We are happy that we have achieved significant success on this way. We continue democratization and transformation of our country into the European-type state and in this process we are strongly supported by the government of Germany" - Giorgi Kvirikashvili said.
According to the Prime Minister, he also spoke with the Chancellor on the conflicts in the region, on the current relationship between Georgia and Russia, and on the occupied territories of Georgia.
As the head of the government of Georgia mentioned, Germany, including as the chair of the OSCE, plays an important role in peaceful regulation of these conflicts.
The Prime Minister thanked the government of Germany for its strong support to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and their contribution to international negotiations in Geneva Format.
„We are preparing together to mark the year of Georgia-Germany friendship in 2017 and planning many interesting events. I want to take the chance and invite the Federal Chancellor of Germany to Georgia to mark the year of Georgia-Germany friendship with us. Thank you very much once again for warm receipt; I express my hope that our cooperation and formats we have today will increase and turn into full scale partnership" - the Prime Minister of Georgia told the Chancellor of Germany.
At the joint press conference, the Prime Minister of Georgia and the Chancellor of Germany answered the questions of media.
The questions - when the Georgian citizens will be granted visa liberalization and if Germany unconditionally supports this process, why there is no consensus in NATO with regard to awarding MAP to Georgia and what prevents Georgia's membership in NATO, have been answered by the Chancellor of Germany. She said that with regard to membership of NATO good decision was found - substantial package especially created for Georgia.
„We successfully cooperate with Georgia with regard to Afghanistan. In Warsaw, we spoke on additional ways for cooperation with Georgia in the framework of NATO-Georgia substantial package. Through this, we created very good foundation for NATO-Georgia cooperation. As for visas, the speech is no on very long term. The Speech deals with negotiations at the European Parliament. The Parliament is independent; however, we shall do our best to ensure completion of this discussion as soon as possible. We took into consideration conclusion of European Commission, according to which Georgia had met all criteria for visa liberalization. Germany was not against this recommendation of European Commission and the decision was taken for the benefit of Georgia, in combination of suspension mechanism," Angela Merkel said.
Representatives of German media asked the Prime Minister of Georgia whether government of Georgia is dissapointed by Germany with regard to NATO membership and integration into EU.
According to the Prime Minister, relationship between Georgia and Germany is reviewed under larger and long-term context and this relationship is not assessed on the ground only today's decisions, which must not be considered only from the side of Georgia or only based on Georgia's viewpoints.
„We should take into account contexts, including the contexts of European and Global policies; therefore, we do not think that Germany disappointed us. We think that the current process even more contributes our integration; the role of Germany in Georgia's Eurointegration and European transformation has become clearer that is natural in principle. Therefore, we think that we will achieve mutual understanding in this process and Georgia will be definitely awarded visa liberalization. Georgia is sure that the country will definitely become the member of NATO. For this purpose, Georgia must be consistent in the process of transformation; it is necessary to deepen the partnership with the Alliance. We think that the window of possibilities will be open for Georgia, when the international context is ready for this. We consider relations between Georgia and Germany most important and we are thankful to Germany for its multilateral support to our country for last several decades" - the Prime Minister said.
In answering the same question, Angela Merkel said that with regard to NATO intense discussion had been held in Bucharest in 2007 and since that pragmatic ways were found.
„We cooperate very closely with Georgia within the frame of the package adopted by us, and we will also discuss this in Warsaw; we are on the way which, to my opinion, confirms the current reality and supports Georgia to strengthen its defence capabilities"- Angela Merkel declared.
To the question on visa liberalization and whether the issues of Georgia and Ukraine are reviewed together, the Chancellor has answered that all countries have so called guide and European Commission assesses which criteria have been or have not been met.
As to the struggle against the crime, according to the Chancellor of Germany, this also plays the role, especially, in the perception of German citizens.
„I am very pleased and this has been underlined by our Minister of Interior that Georgia and Germany very efficiently and intensely cooperate to this direction. Hence, I am sure we shall achieve success to this effect. I feel that Georgia tries its best and uses all its resources to cooperate with us for this purpose"- Angela Merkel said.
At the press conference, the head of the government of Georgia has also been asked on the steps taken towards regulation of relationship with Russia and whether Euro-Atlantic integration threatens Georgia with closure of Russian markets.
Prime Minister thanked the Chancellor for Germany's role as a chair of the OSCE and talked on the Geneva intentional format, where the questions of Georgia-Russia relationship and resolution of the conflicts in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region are discussed.
„We consider the active role of Germany to this effect to be very important. We achieved clear progress during last several rounds when we managed to put into operation again the mechanism for incident prevention and respective response in Gali, Abkhazia. This is very important for prevention conflicts on occupied territories and in conflict zones. We have the high hope to achieve serious progress to this end during the Germany's chairmanship of OSCE. The state has the confidence building policy, which is followed step-by-step, consistently and purposefully. It is very important for us to not only return occupied territories back, but also and for the first to reconcile people and integrate nation. It is very important for us to build confidence with our Abkhazian and Ossetian brothers and sisters and we follow target-oriented policy to this effect. As for your question with regard to NATO and Russia, whether we take risk to endanger our commercial, trade and tourist connections, we are permanently trying to prevent hostile rhetoric with Russia. Since 2012, we have changed government's attitude to this issue to become as constructive as possible. However, I should stress once again that compromise with regard to territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia will not be excepted. We try to restore relations between peoples; fortunately, we have some trade today, we have relations in terms of tourism, we try to communicate that Georgia's membership in this or that block will not be danger for Russia, Georgia will not be more hostile as it may be in ordinary circumstances. We have problems with regard to territories, with regard to occupation, but our approach is as constructive as possible in order to decrease tension in this conflict and speak peacefully on conflict resolution" - the Prime Minister of Georgia said.
Prime Minister's Press Office