Telephone conversation held between David Zalkaliani and his Japanese counterpart

On 21 May 2020, Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani held a telephone conversation with his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, at the latter’s initiative.

The parties exchanged views over the measures taken to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and the progress made in this regard. The Japanese Minister highly appraised the Georgian Government’s actions against the spread of COVID-19.

Zalkaliani reaffirmed his gratitude for the assistance Japan rendered to Georgia by providing antiviral drug - Avigan and other medical equipment.

Highlighting the importance of deepening bilateral cooperation the parties put a special accent on the need to support the pandemic-affected sectors of economy and tourism. The Minister acquainted his colleague with the Georgian Government’s vision regarding the rapid rehabilitation of the tourism sector.   Zalkaliani welcomed the fact that the Japanese Foreign Ministry included Georgia into a list of low-risk countries, due to the effective measures taken by the Georgian Government and expressed his readiness to host Japanese tourists to Georgia.

The parties welcomed the completion of official negotiations in 2019 over the bilateral investment agreement as an important step towards further developing economic relations.

The parties noted with satisfaction the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s decision to implement investments in Georgia and its recent procurement of 31.4% of stocks of Dariali Energy Ltd by which TEPCO officially joined the implementation of the Dariali Hydro Power Project.

The two ministers paid special attention to the need to deepen economic partnership and reaffirmed their willingness for further closer cooperation.

Special note was taken of the activities of the Georgian Office of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the important agreement signed between the two countries envisaging the assignment of Japanese volunteers to Georgia.

Discussions also focused on the cooperation between the two countries in multilateral formats and the positive dynamics in this regard.

The two ministers expressed their commitment towards further cooperation.