Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Meeting of the President Xhaferi and the President of the Parliament of Georgia, Mr. Irakli Kobakhidze
Today the President of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Talat Xhaferi, on the margins of the 138th IPU Assembly in Geneva, Swiss Confederation, met Mr. Irakli Kobakhidze, Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia, upon his request.
At the beginning of the meeting the Chairperson of the Georgian Parliament Mr. Kobakhidze underlined the importance of the initiation of more intensive political dialogue between Georgia and Macedonia, emphasising that the two states have not yet established diplomatic relations, but share similar aims and challenged, such as the integration in EU and NATO. Confirming that the Republic of Macedonia is a frontrunner to Georgia in this area, he was interested for opening the cooperation in direction of sharing the experience and best practices between the MPs and the Staff of the two Parliaments. The Georgian Parliament is particularly interested in the functioning of the parliamentary Institute of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and the harmonization with the Acquis Communautaire. Georgia, on its side can share positive experience in the fight against corruption, reforms of the police and the improvement of the civil services.
The President of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Talat Xhaferi expressed appreciation from the meeting and underlined that aside from the lack of established diplomatic relations; the MPs from the two states cooperate in the framework of the international parliamentary assemblies. Delegations from the Republic of Macedonia participated in several multilateral events in Georgia and the Georgian Parliamentary Delegation participated in the Autumn Session of OSCE PA in Skopje in 2016.
The President Xhaferi underlined that the preparedness of the Republic of Macedonia for development of any kind of bilateral cooperation with Georgia, underlining that the two states successfully cooperative in the framework of OSCE and NATO.
He also expressed to share the experience for establishing and functioning of the Parliamentary institute and proposed delegation of the Parliament of Georgia to visit the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and to be acquainted with the work of the Institute. The Chairperson of the Georgian parliament invited the President Xhaferi to attend two important events in Georgia in the period to come, a centenary since Georgia regained independence, on 26 may 2018 and the Fifth Summit of the Open Government Partnership 17 – 19 June 2018.
Underlining that the Republic of Macedonia remains dedicated on the Euro Atlantic agenda, Mr. Xhaferi informed the interlocutor on the measures for building trust for resolution of the bilateral dispute with Greece in regard with the Constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia and the ratification of the Agreement on Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Bulgaria.
The interlocutors referred to the developments in the Republic of Macedonia and Georgia, including the ones in Western Balkans and Caucasus and agreed that deepening the political, economic, cultural and parliamentary cooperation between the two states will be beneficial and will open perspectives for the citizens of the two states.