Tbilisi. In the framework of the visit to the State of Israel, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili met with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on January 28, who said that the two countries should focus on how to "increase our friendship and cooperation", Civil Georgia (civil.ge) portal reports.
"And it's an enduring and long friendship," PM Netanyahu said in remarks for the press before the meeting. "We have a natural sympathy with Georgia that seeks to establish a prosperous and secure future for its people. We think we can do that together," Civil Georgia cites him as saying.
"We have every area to cooperate in, technology and water, agriculture, education, everything. And we are open to further this cooperation in all fields. We've been doing that; we'll continue to do that. I'm sure your visit enhances that. That is part of our quest to achieve security, prosperity and peace," the Israeli PM said.
PM Garibashvili said in his remarks that Georgia strived "to build a favorable basis for full expansion of bilateral trade relations worldwide and therefore we attach special importance to the discussions of the free trade agreement between the State of Israel and Georgia."
Meanwhile in Tbilisi, Defense Minister Irakli Alasania told journalists on January 28 that "great opportunities have opened up" for military cooperation between Georgia and Israel.
"I visited Israel last month and an agreement was reached to set up a group that will start developing our military cooperation in all trends" Alasania said.
A Memorandum of Understanding on setting up a joint Georgian-Israeli economic commission was signed by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his Georgian counterpart Maia Panjikidze on January 28.
After the meeting with his Israeli counterpart, PM Garibashvili told journalists: "Israel is a very important country for Georgia. We pay special attention to cooperation with Israel in whole range of areas - economy, culture, security."
"I had a very important and fruitful meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister and the Israeli President [Shimon Peres]. We exchanged interesting ideas about how to further deeper our relations and first of all it concern economy as there is a huge potential," the Georgian PM said, adding that he also had a meeting with a group of Israeli business people, who, he said, would visit Georgia in March to look into investment opportunities.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu assured me of his full readiness and support to personally recommend [Israeli] investors to visit and invest in Georgia," he said.