2021-08-22
Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine:
Dear Prime Minister,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Colleagues,
Ukraine and Georgia are bonded with long-lasting friendship and kindly unneighborly relations, existing between our people, which are based on common values and interests. I wish to greet the Prime Minister of Georgia and congratulate him with his first Official Visit to Ukraine. I also wish to thank you for agreeing to my invitation for participation in the Inauguration Summit of Crimea Platform.
I am confident that the official visit of my colleague - Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia - will give us an opportunity to focus on the discussion of practical steps to be made by our countries towards intensification of our strategic cooperation.
We had an opportunity to discuss today all the aspects of relations between Georgia and Ukraine towards security, foreign affairs, policy directions and cooperation in trade and economic fields.
I wish to thank Georgia for the unwavering support of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, as well as for non-recognition of the unlawful annexation of Crimea by Russia, for condemning the Russian aggression in Donbas and for an active position towards protection of human rights at the temporarily occupied territories.
In the conditions of intensified pressure from the Russian Federation, we have always felt the support of Georgia, which is very precious and valuable now when Ukraine has established a new format of resistance - Crimea Platform. I am confident that participation of Georgia in the Summit of Crimea Platform will enable us to zoom the attention of the international community on the need of consolidated efforts towards the deoccupation of Georgian territories - Abkhazia, Tskhinvali region, South Ossetia.
We have discussed in detail the relations of our countries at the international level and namely the coordination of our joint steps to accelerate the full accession of Georgia and Ukraine into the EU and NATO. We also prioritize issues that are related to the deepening of cooperation mechanisms with NATO and engagement of our countries into the dialogue on the Black Sea security. Additional mechanism of close cooperation towards European integration has become the establishment of an Association Trio - Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova - format. It happened at the level of heads of states. It is also important that a respective Declaration was signed on July 19, 2021 in Batumi.
Trend of bilateral trade has reached a new level, as it was increased by 32% in the first 5 months of 2021. I hope that we will further advance towards this end through the Joint Inter-Governmental Commission on Economic Cooperation between Georgia and Ukraine after the experts-driven negotiations, the third meeting of which is scheduled to take place in Tbilisi at the end of September 2021.
During the meeting with the Prime Minister of Georgia, I expressed our keen interest in the intensive development of railway transit potential between Georgia and Ukraine. We should use the opportunities offered by the Black Sea ports and ferry movement between our countries, along with the existing infrastructure. Also, we should be using every effort to increase the volume of cargo shipment both between the two countries and to third parties through ports of Georgia and Ukraine.
We agreed to continue joint work with the European Commission for ensuring favorable conditions of development in view of the container-feeder movement between the marine ports of Georgia, Ukraine and EU.
Georgia and Ukraine have all the prerequisites for expanding their investment cooperation. We have considered the participation of businesses in the development of joint high-tech enterprises through privatization and in infrastructure projects. I highly value the outcome of our meeting today and remain confident that high-level political and economic dialogue will be intensified between our countries and ultimate success will be achieved in the comprehensive cooperation in targeted areas of interaction between Georgia and Ukraine.
Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia:
Thank you my dear colleague, Mr. Prime Minister! It is a great honor for me to officially visit a profoundly friendly country for me and my country - Ukraine. I wish to sincerely thank you for a very warm welcome and hospitality. Mr. Prime Minister hosted us yesterday in his native city of Lviv. I wish to once again note that it was a great honor for us. I also wish to note how grateful we are for such hospitality. Ukraine and Ukrainian people are very precious to us. Ukraine is not only a friendly nation, but a strategic partner and we do our best to advance this relationship to a higher level.
We discussed a number of topics relating to our friendly nations during these two days. These were a wide array of issues, including security, trade and economy and our friendly relations at large. On the one hand, we have aspirations, and both wish to become member states of the EU and NATO. On the other hand, we have similar - or I would say identical - problems and challenges.
I once again wish to reiterate our respect towards the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. Also, I wish to express my gratitude to the Prime Minister and President for their consistently and publicly declared solid support.
Tomorrow I will be participating in the initiative of President Zelensky, which is related to the establishment of the Crimea Platform. We will be reassessing the current situation, temporary occupation of Crimea. Also, we have discussed the grave situation currently witnessed in the temporarily separated regions. We reviewed our issues as well, which are related to the situation witnessed in the occupied territories of Georgia - Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region. You may well be aware that 13 years have passed since the August War and 20% of our territories remain occupied. Of course, actions taken by Russia are alarming for us both in Ukraine, Crimea, separated regions as well as in our territories. Borderisation continues in Tskhinvali and Abkhazia and it, of course, causes common concerns.
We also discussed in detail with the Prime Minister of Ukraine our aspirations towards European integration, towards becoming fully-fledged members of the EU. Within this context, I wish to highlight the establishment of a format labeled as Trio. We signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in May at the level of Foreign Ministers and now at the presidential level in Batumi - within the format of Trio Engagement. Three nations - Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia - may truly demonstrate a lot of success stories to the international community and prove to our partners that we as a Trio can be successful states, truly deserving accession to the EU and NATO.
Mechanisms of practical cooperation with the EU should become intensive on topics related to energy, transport, digital market, connectivity. I believe that these are the topics, which should be raised and jointly addressed towards this end.
We have also reviewed the current interaction between our governments in the field of defense and security. We have excellent cooperation. I am accompanied by the Minister of Defense of Georgia and we truly have commendable cooperation in this field as well. Georgian servicemen are participating in joint military exercises together with our international partners, side-by-side with Ukrainians, while Ukrainian servicemen are participating in a number of military exercises in Georgia, which is remarkable.
As for the economy and trade, the Prime Minister of Ukraine has already noted that volumes have increased by 32%. I wish to say a few words about tourism as well. Number of Ukrainian visitors has grown by 70%. We discussed steps to be made jointly for increasing the trade volumes to one billion USD.
I wish to note that the exchange of COVID-19 Certificates has been completed successfully and I believe it will further simplify the mobility of our citizens to Ukraine and Georgia. I wish to once again express my gratitude to my dear colleague for hospitality. I am thrilled to be in Kyiv. It is my first visit to your country and I remain confident that many successful visits will follow - ours to Ukraine and yours to Georgia.
Press Service of the Government Administration