Georgian President emphasises shared values in Slovakia visit

Georgian president Mikheil Kavelashvili on Friday summed up his official visit to Slovakia, expressing his gratitude to the Slovak authorities for their invitation and warm hospitality.

In his remarks, Kavelashvili emphasised the strategic partnership and shared values between Georgia and Slovakia.

“I will begin by thanking Slovakia and the Slovak government, in particular my counterpart Peter Pellegrini, who invited me and organised such a meaningful and cordial meeting. We are strategic partners with shared visions. A country that is a member of the European Union, fighting for freedom, sovereignty, and national interests, is exemplary and admirable to us. These are the very values we uphold, and it is important for us to have partners like Slovakia, who are EU members. We enjoy very good relations with them”, he said.

In his remarks, Kavelashvili emphasised the topics that were discussed during the meetings held within the framework of the visit and announced that next month the Georgian Parliament speaker would be a guest in Slovakia.

“Yesterday we also had business meetings. We met with the Parliament speaker and his delegation. We discussed relations between the parliaments, which will become more intense - next month the Parliament speaker will be a guest in Slovakia. The more frequent our relations at the highest level means that our countries should be even more connected to each other”, the president said.

“We also had a meeting with the executive branch, the vice prime minister. At this meeting, we also discussed business relations that concern trade and economic issues, defense and security, and we also reviewed education, youth and culture. These are issues that have great potential in relations between our countries and I hope that these relations will become more frequent”, he continued.

Kavelashvili further underlined the country's role in the Middle Corridor, highlighting Pellegrini’s statement that it was unthinkable to develop the Middle Corridor without Georgia in terms of connectivity with Asia-Europe.

“Against the background of challenges and war situations around us, the Middle Corridor has become very important for everyone. It was just yesterday that it was noted and the President of Slovakia noted that it is unthinkable to develop the Middle Corridor without Georgia in terms of connectivity with Asia and Europe”, he added.

The president further noted that the Georgian government’s foreign policy was a civilisational dialogue.

“We have a very consistent, wise, pragmatic policy, and a number of countries understand this very well - Slovakia is just such a country, a small country that is constantly fighting for freedom, sovereignty, and national interests. We coincide in this”, he concluded.