On 22 February, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius received the outgoing Ambassador of Georgia to Lithuania Georgi Kerdikoshvili and remarked that warm and friendly bilateral relations were growing stronger. The Lithuanian Foreign Minister drew the Ambassador’s attention to active and successful cooperation between the Foreign Ministries of the two countries and to increasing volume of bilateral trade.

The meeting focused on Ambassador Kerdikoshvili’s tenure in Lithuania. The interlocutors drew special attention to active political contacts. Since the beginning of the Ambassador’s tenure in 2008, Georgia has become more visible in Lithuania. With Kerdikoshvili as patron, various cultural and sports events contributed significantly to the growing awareness of Georgia in Vilnius, as well as in other regions of Lithuania.

During the conversation, Linkevičius expressed support for Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration and reassured that Lithuania was ready to help Georgia to implement all reforms for the achievement of these goals. The Foreign Minister stressed that Lithuania and Georgia had a brilliant framework for bilateral cooperation – the Georgian-Lithuanian Commission for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration – which was set up by the Foreign Ministries of the two countries aiming to help Georgia move towards its goals.

At the meeting, the Foreign Minister and the Ambassador also noted that bilateral trade relations were also growing consistently. Over the past few years, Georgia has become major trade partner of Lithuania in Southern Caucasus. Last year the volume of bilateral trade grew by more than one-third.

Linkevičius thanked the outgoing Ambassador of Georgia to Lithuania Kerdikoshvili for his contribution to the development of bilateral relations and wished him best of luck in his future work.