Austria and Georgia in favour of intensifying bilateral relations

Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister Spindelegger meets with Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vaschadze

Vienna, 6 June 2011 - Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger met today with Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vaschadze in Vienna for a bilateral exchange of opinions. "In future, we intend to further intensify the relations between our two countries. The signing of a Classified Information Agreement between Austria and Georgia is another important step in this direction", said Spindelegger today after his talks with Vaschadze. The meeting between the two Foreign Ministers provided the framework for the signing of a bilateral Classified Information Agreement. In particular, the Agreement regulates the equality of the classification levels used in the two states, as well as the identification and protection of relayed classified information.

Austria recently agreed on bilateral projects with Georgia in the areas environment and tourism. Apart from the cultural and scientific relations between the two countries, Spindelegger also referred to the economic cooperation between Georgia and Austria: "There is still a lot of potential in the economic relations of our two countries. The economic potential can be significantly increased by promoting bilateral trade and targeted investments in combination with Austrian expertise and the huge Georgian potential for the development of renewable energies."

In addition, the Foreign Minister stressed that Georgia will be gradually upgraded to a priority country for the Austrian Development Cooperation in the coming years. For example, an expert from the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) will be assigned to Tiflis in the autumn of this year.

Efforts to intensify cooperation are also taking place on a European level: The EU launched negotiations on an association treaty with Georgia in July 2010, which provides for an expansion of the existing trade and investment opportunities and the creation of a far-reaching and comprehensive free trade zone.

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