"Azerbaijan and Georgia are strategic partners which means much in itself." The statement came from the Georgian ambassador to Azerbaijan Teymuraz Sharashenidze.

"Economics and politics, military-technical cooperation and economic sphere are very important areas of bilateral cooperation, and in all these areas the embassy is working in accordance with the tasks set by the center. Of course, there is a potential to expand and deepen relations. The trade turnover between our two countries has amounted to over $700 million over the past year,” the Georgian envoy said, reported AzerTAj.

“Very important energy and energy security projects are being developed like Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Supsa, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, AGRI gas pipeline project which is to pipe gas to Romania through Georgia and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project which is nearing completion.

“Representatives of Azerbaijani and Georgian sides guarantee that the railway will become operational in 2012,” Sharashenidze added.

“At the same time the Turkish government is going to complete construction of a railway tunnel under the Bosporus. This will be a single line to connect Western Europe and Asia. This is a very interesting project not only for economic but also political reasons," he continued.

As to his appointment, the diplomat noted that it was an honor for him to represent his country in Azerbaijan.

"The appointment as ambassador to Azerbaijan is a great honor for me because it is particularly important and responsible job to work in a friendly neighboring country. I arrived in Baku with great love and respect. I have great respect forthe people of Azerbaijan and love this country. I had met with many representatives of Azerbaijan before and our meetings have always been very warm. Therefore, this assignment was a great honor for me," the envoy said.

"The amount of investments of the Azerbaijani business in Georgia's economy is over $500 million while the Georgian capital investment is at a small level. Over the past year, about 2 million tourists tripped to Georgia with 498,000 of them being from Azerbaijan.

“The Black Sea resorts, particularly Adjara region and ski resorts, will see the largest number of tourists this year as renovation work has begun in Tskhaltubo resort town and the whole infrastructure will be upgraded and renovated by late 2012. Kazakh partners have made great investments in Borjomi and Borjomi Gorge, which have become modern resorts attended by numerous visitors," said the ambassador.

Moreover, Sharashenidze said experts from the two countries are still engaged with delimitation of the Azerbaijan-Georgia border.

“The working group to delimitate the state border is expected to hold the next meeting by summer,” he noted.

URL: http://www.news.az/articles/economy/35324