Georgian Dream Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili hosted a meeting of counterparts from five Central Asian countries in the coastal city of Batumi, discussing bilateral partnerships and Middle Corridor cooperation amid Tbilisi’s intensifying engagement with the region.
The visiting officials included Turkmenistan’s Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Zheenbek Kulubaev, Tajikistan’s Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin, and Uzbek Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov.
As part of the event, Botchorishvili held a series of bilateral meetings with her counterparts, discussing further deepening “bilateral and multilateral relations” and the importance of “developing the Middle Corridor,” a trade route linking Asia and Europe while bypassing Russia, the Georgian Foreign Ministry reported.
In a briefing following the October 23 meeting, Botchorishvili spoke about “a historical friendship, shared economic interests, a common goal of strengthening the ties between Europe and Asia, and the particular importance of the development of the Middle Corridor.”
“Today’s meeting also showed that Georgia is a very important country for Central Asia to have access to international markets,” she added.
The evening before, on October 22, Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze also hosted the visiting Foreign Ministers at an official dinner, where he reiterated that “deepening relations with Central Asian countries and further developing cooperation across various sectors is a priority for the Government of Georgia,” according to the official press release.
The Batumi meeting is a continuation of Tbilisi’s increased engagement with Central Asian countries as Tbilisi seeks to promote its role in the Middle Corridor, including through a series of recent high-level visits and signing strategic partnership documents with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Georgian Dream government officials, led by Kobakhidze, have traveled in recent months to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan, while in July two Central Asian leaders, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Turkmenistan’s President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, visited Georgia.
The increased engagement between Georgia and Central Asian countries also comes amid strained relations between Tbilisi and its traditional Western partners, including the United States and the European Union.
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