By Ilona Krasutskaya: Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili has finished his official visit to Belarus today. The second day of the visit was rich in meetings and negotiations. The second negotiation round took place in the Palace of Independence despite the fact that the Presidents of Belarus and Georgia had communicated for about six hours the day before. Today, the politicians once again discussed bilateral cooperation. The countries are set to significantly intensify cooperation in various spheres, Belarusian equipment exports, setting up joint ventures and service centres being among spheres of interest.
Alexander Lukashenko and Giorgi Margvelashvili met today in the Winter Garden of the Independence Palace. Margvelashvili shared his impressions of staying in the country and visiting Minsk Arena. The two Presidents exchanged views on the further development of bilateral relations.
Yesterday’s negotiations in the Independence Palace lasted for over six hours, focusing on new cooperation areas and key projects both for the current year and the future.
Minsk-Tbilisi high-level contacts have not been active in the past twenty years. A new page in the relations was opened during the Belarusian President’s visit to Georgia in April 2015. The active political dialogue resulted in a breakthrough achieved in less than two years. The volume of mutual trade has grown by 60% over the past year, which is a record observed in the past five years. The two Presidents agreed to reach a milestone of 200 million dollars in mutual trade.
Belarus and Georgia are interested in promoting cooperation, as the countries’ economies complement each other, and switching from simple trade to industrial cooperation.
Minsk Tractor Works will continue conquering the specialised garden machinery market, with a contract for exporting 90 compact tractors prepared for this year. Another 300 tractors will be assembled jointly every year at the Georgian Technical University. A Mogilevliftmash branch will open there as well. Belarus currently exports about 400 items of goods to Georgia.
Another negotiation round took place today in the Belarusian Government. The parties had a lot to discuss one-on-one as Belarusian Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov is planned to visit Georgia in the near future. The Governments of the two countries are responsible for intensifying cooperation and implementing the agreements reached yesterday in the Independence Palace. The volume of Belarus-Georgia mutual trade should exceed 200 million dollars by 2018.
Giorgi Margvelashvili has visited the Hi-Tech Park as the Georgian Government is currently developing a number of state programmes in the IT-industry. Belarusian experts will soon visit Georgia to share experience and hold workshops in attracting foreign investments, innovation entrepreneurship support and IT-education development for their Georgian counterparts.
The Georgian leader, who is a Doctor of Philosophy, has been awarded the title of the Honorary Professor of the Belarusian National Technical University for his support to the development of friendly ties with Belarus. BNTU and the Georgian Technical University have been cooperating for more than a year. It has been announced today that the two universities will set up a joint business incubator.
The Georgian President’s two-day visit saw over twenty meetings and long fruitful talks at all levels. All the agreements are reflected in a joint statement by the two Presidents.
Giorgi Margvelashvili’s official visit ended symbolically with attending the Mound of Glory memorial complex












