Turkmenistan’s President Serdar Berdimuhamedow is paying the first state-level visit to Georgia on July 16-17.
The visit comes amid Tbilisi’s intensified engagement with Central Asian countries. Georgian Dream government members, led by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, visted Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan over three consecutive weeks in June, while Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited Tbilisi in early July. As part of these visits, Georgia signed strategic partnership agreements with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The visit also comes amid growing attention to the Middle Corridor, a trade route connecting Asia and Europe while bypassing Russia, as well as Tbilisi’s strained relations and largely frozen ties with its traditional Western partners, including the United States, which suspended its strategic partnership with Georgia in November 2024, and the European Union.
Accompanied by a state delegation, Berdimuhamedow arrived at Tbilisi airport on July 16, where he was welcomed by Georgian Dream Defence Minister Irakli Chikovani. He was later received with an official welcoming ceremony at the Orbeliani Presidential Palace in central Tbilisi by GD-elected President Mikheil Kavelashvili.
Meeting with Kavelashvili
During a one-on-one meeting between Kavelashvili and Berdimuhamedov, the talks focused on “prospects for expanding cooperation,” particularly trade and economic relations, investments, energy, transport, and logistics, as well as “more effective utilization of the strategic potential of the Middle Corridor,” according to a press release from the presidential administration.
The sides also noted that Georgia, as a “key link” connecting Europe and Asia, is “interested in deepening transit connections, including through the future use of opportunities offered by the Black Sea ports and the Anaklia Deep Sea Port.”
They also discussed strengthening cooperation in culture, education, and science.
Kavelashvili thanked Berdimuhamedov for Turkmenistan’s support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He also noted that Berdimuhamedov’s first-ever state visit to Georgia “represents a significant stage in the development of relations between the two countries and is a clear demonstration of the strengthening of high-level political dialogue.”
More to follow…
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