Georgia's Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze said on Monday that he welcomed the agreement on additional natural gas supplies from Azerbaijan.
Since taking his new post, Janelidze made his first official visit to Azerbaijan on Monday where he welcome the new deal at a meeting with his counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov in capital Baku.
At a press conference following the meeting, he also said that bilateral relations with Azerbaijan and tripartite relations, including Turkey, serve as a model for cooperation.
'Georgia required more natural gas to meet its increasing domestic consumption and Azerbaijan, as a strategic partner, responded to Georgia's needs positively,' Janelidze said.
With the new deal, Georgia will increase the amount of natural gas from 800 million cubic meters to 1.3 billion cubic meters per year.
Azerbaijan State Oil Company, SOCAR and the government of Georgia signed the energy cooperation agreement which includes the supply of an additional 500 million cubic meters of natural gas annually.
The agreement was signed by Rovnag Abdullayev, the president of SOCAR, and Kakha Kaladze, energy minister of Georgia on Mar. 4.
'Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is another project which contributes to all countries, and we will continue to cooperate for the development of the region,' Janelidze added.
Reporting by Ruslan Rehimov
Writing By Muhsin Baris Tiryakioglu
Anadolu Agency
muhsin.tiryakioglu@aa.com.tr