The Georgian parliamentary delegation led by Speaker Shalva Papuashvili held a meeting with Chairman of the Indian Senate (Rajya Sabha), who also serves as Vice-President, Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan.

According to Foreign Relations Committee Chair Nikoloz Samkharadze, the meeting focused on the development of Georgia-India relations.

Samkharadze noted that the Senate Chair welcomed the fact that a high-level delegation from Georgia arrived in India. He emphasised that India is a significant country and the world’s fourth-largest economy.

“This is the first time in 30 years of relations that the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament and the chairpersons of the committees have paid an official visit to India. The Senate Chair remarked that this fact would give additional impetus to the development of relations.

He accentuated three issues that are significant in their viewpoint. These issues are cooperation in the tourism, energy and technology spheres. All three spheres are priorities for us. Therefore, we agreed that we would work on all these issues for the implementation of common interests. It was a cordial meeting. The Senate Chair is very well informed about Georgia’s rich traditions and expressed his wish to arrive in Georgia for an official visit. The visit was important and prolific.

India is an important country, the largest state in terms of population, and the fourth largest economy in the world. Its political influences are growing, and Georgia should keep friendly relations with India,” he stated.

Nikoloz Samkharadze said Georgia made a big step forward in the intensification of relations with this visit.

“We spoke about Georgia’s occupation and how to return territories peacefully. We focused on Georgia’s economic growth and factors contibuting to the growth, investment opportunities. I believe the Indian side will make more investments in Georgia.

We agreed that the 200 million in trade turnover between the countries is not enough and we must work to further increase this amount, stressing the need of a free trade agreement. Politically, India’s support for Georgia is significant for our territorial integrity and they pledged support in that regard.

Taking into account that both sides are interested in deepening relations, I believe that this visit will give additional impetus to the development of Georgia-India relations. Soon, India will appoint its first ambassador in Georgia, which will serve as confirmation that our relations are upgrading to a higher level,” he said.