On 25 December 2006, Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Noghaideli arrived on a one-day working visit in Azerbaijan. In Baku, the Prime Minister was accompanied by: Minister of Energy Nika Gilauri, Minister of Economic Development Giorgi Arveladze, Head of International Gas Company Aleko Khetaguri and General Director of Georgian Railway Ltd Irakli Ezugbaia.
Zurab Noghaideli held meetings with Prime Minister of Republic of Azerbaijan Artur Rasizade and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. The issue of gas supply to Georgia was on top of the agenda at the meetings with the Azerbaijani party. In this respect, important results were scored in favour of our country. In particular, Azerbaijan is ready to supply 1 million m3 gas per day to Georgia from the end of 2006, during the entire winter. Nika Gilauri and Aleko Khetaguri stayed in Baku to agree on technical details and sign the contract. "After the recent developments, we had little hope for that. We highly appreciate this decision of the Government and President of Azerbaijan," the Prime Minister of Georgia said.
Another important question discussed at the meeting was the construction of Karsi-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railway. According to Zurab Noghaideli, an agreement has been reached to this end and on January 10 next year a delegation will arrive in Georgia to complete negotiations on the rehabilitation and construction Karsi-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railway. The construction of the railway will kick off in 2007.
Prime Minister's Press Service