Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze said on Monday that the friendship between the peoples of Georgia and Romania "goes back centuries already," saying there is "a special relationship with the Romanian people."
"Romania is a very important country for us, we have a special relationship with the Romanian people, the friendship between the peoples of Georgia and Romania goes back centuries already and today's visit is very important to me because we already celebrate 300 years of friendship between our countries. It is clear that when talking about the friendship between our peoples we cannot help talking about Anthim the Iberian [Georgian theologian, scholar, calligrapher, philosopher and one of the greatest ecclesiastic figures of Wallachia, ed.n.] and Constantin Brancoveanu [Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714, ed.n.], their contribution is invaluable in the Georgia-Romania relationship and I am convinced that what our ancestors started we shall continue. We have some common interests with Romania, we are geographically connected, we have access to the Black Sea, which gives us a unique opportunity to play an important role in the development of our bilateral and regional relations," Georgian Prime Minister said at Victoria Palace during joint statements alongside Prime Minister Viorica Dancila.
He added that it is important for the two countries to intensify economic relations next year and create some opportunities for cooperation between Constanta port and the ports of Georgia.
Mamuka Bakhtadze said that Georgia is still successfully implementing the association agreement with the European Union.
"We are convinced that Romania will continue to support us and we want to thank you for always supporting the territorial integrity of Georgia. We also discussed the very painful challenges we have in Georgia. The Russian Federation has annexed 20 percent of the Georgian territories. (...) Of course, the Russian Federation does not do what it promised and the Russian army remains on Georgia's territory, unfortunately. We want to thank the international society for its support and I would like to thank the Romanian Government in particular for the fact that as concerns the EU monitoring mission, Romania has the biggest contribution," the Georgian premier said.
AGERPRES .