On 24 November 2006, Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Noghaideli was on a one-day working visit to Turkey. The Prime Minister was accompanied by Minister of Energy of Georgia Nika Gilauri.
The core goal of the visit was to attend the Istanbul-hosted World Economic Forum and meet with the top officials of the Government of Turkey.
Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli held his first meeting with Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Parviz Davudi. At the meeting, the parties touched upon economic issues, including talks over natural gas supply. It became known that at the end of December Iran would host a meeting of the Joint Economic Commission. The Prime Minister of Georgia will take part in the event and it is at that meeting that the decision on the possible import of natural gas from Iran will be made.
The issue of natural gas was the topic of the meetings with Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Turkey Hilmi Guler. As Zurab Noghaideli said, a trilateral meeting will be held in the nearest future where Turkey and Azerbaijan will make final decisions on the supply of Shah-Deniz gas. "We are running talks with four different countries to supply natural gas to Georgia and, in the long run, we'll decide on the best option for the people of Georgia. We'll definitely get gas from all the three or possibly four sources simultaneously," the Prime Minister said.
Another question discussed at the meeting with the Vice-President of Iran and Prime Minister of Turkey revolved around a free trade agreement. As Zurab Noghaideli put it, "we must complete talks on the topic with both countries as soon as possible, as it is very important for the development of our export."
As part of the visit, the Prime Minister held meetings with the Vice-Premier of the Republic of Turkey, Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulah Gul, and State Minister of Turkey Kushard Tuzmen. Besides, Zurab Noghaideli made a speech at Global Energy Security Update - European Perspective Session of the World Economic Forum in Istanbul, Turkey.
Prime Minister's Press Service