Georgia and Israel sign memorandum of understanding
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Friday, November 6
The Chairman of the Israeli Knesset, Yuli Edelstein, and the Chairman of the Georgian Parliament Davit Usupashvili, signed a memorandum of understanding on November 5. The memorandum will further cooperation between the two countries' parliaments for future endeavors.
"The memorandum does not only represent the respect between our two countries; due to this memorandum we will cooperate, exchange experience and strengthen each other. The 26 centuries of friendship between Georgians and Jewish people should be expressed in such projects,” stated Usupashvili.
Usupashvili said that the Israeli parliament can share its experience of the “Green Knesset” concept and in its efforts to employ people with disabilities in parliament.
“We shared our achievements in medium of openness,” Usupashvili said, noting that the Georgian parliament’s inter-faction group was the winner of Open Government Partnership (OGP) award at the OGP Global Summit in Mexico last month.
He also presented the Georgian parliament’s achievements to his Jewish counterpart and thanked the Israeli delegation for introducing a visa-free regime between the two countries.
"I am pleased that during the meeting we discussed every issue in details. Georgian and Jewish people have 26-century-old friendship which now must be expressed in such mutually beneficial ways. I wish every success to the Jewish people, and peace and stability for their countries and the region. In this respect, Georgia is a reliable friend and partner of Israel,” he stated.
"We have the unique experience of cooperating with the Jewish community in Georgia, who lived here for thousands of years, and the good relations between Georgia and Israel continued after the independence of Georgia. We did not only sign the memorandum, but also made contacts and introduced practical initiatives,” stated Yuli Edelstein.
Edelshtein arrived in Tbilisi on a three-day visit. He will hold a meeting with the President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, and the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia, Ilia II. On November 6 he will meet with Foreign Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.
Edelshtein will leave Georgia on November 8.
