Friday, 12 November, Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany: Premier Dr. Reiner Haseloff received the Ambassador of Georgia in Germany, Professor Dr Levan Izoria, for his inaugural visit in Saxony-Anhalt since he took up the ambassadorship in June 2020.
Both sides exchanged views on current issues such as the challenges of the pandemic, and expressed the hope that bilateral contacts can be expanded.
In 2020, goods worth almost 2.9 million euros were exported from Saxony-Anhalt to the South Caucasian country, whereas imports had a volume of around 200,000 euros.
There is close cooperation in the field of science, for example: Otto von Guericke University works together with Tbilisi Ivane Javakhisvili State University in the field of medicine on the basis of a university agreement. From 2017 to 2019, the Institute of Classical Studies at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the Laboratory for Visual Anthropology and Local History at Ilia State University Tbilisi carried out excavations in the Nazarlebi rampart complex on the edge of the Shiraki Plain in Kakheti (eastern Georgia) in a research cooperation. In addition, MLU maintains further cooperation in the area of student and teacher exchanges with universities in Georgia.
Germany was the first country in the European Community to recognise Georgia under international law after its independence in 1991 and to establish diplomatic relations. At the European level, Georgia is part of the Eastern Partnership within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy. Euro-Atlantic integration has been an important issue for the country for many years. In 2017, for example, the Georgian constitution enshrined the goal of membership in the EU and NATO. Since 2016, Georgia has been linked to the EU by an Association Agreement and a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. In 2017, the visa-free regime for Georgian citizens travelling to the EU also came into force, allowing them to stay in the Schengen area for up to three months.
Following the meeting with Premier Dr. Haseloff, the Ambassador paid a call upon the Speaker of the State Assembly (Landtag), Dr. Gunnar Schellenberger, and to State Secretary, Dr. Jürgen Ude, at the Ministry of Economics, Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry of Saxony-Anhalt.
For further information:
Government of Saxony-Anhalt: https://europa.sachsen-anhalt.de/internationales/aktuelles-international/antrittsbesuch-des-georgischen-botschafters/
Embassy of Georgia in Germany: http://botschaftgeorgien.de/2021/11/15/der-besuch-des-botschafters-in-sachsen-anhalt/
