On the second, final day of his visit to Georgia, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov met on Friday Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili in Black Sea resort town of Batumi, where the two were present at a ceremony marking the Georgian Police Day.

Garibashvili and Hasanov discussed “bilateral, as well as Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish trilateral cooperation perspectives in the context of defense of strategic energy resources’ transportation” facilities, the Georgian PM office said. It also said that the Azerbaijani side expressed “interest towards production” manufactured by the Georgian state-owned Delta military industrial complex.

Georgian Defense Minister, Irakli Alasania, who was present at the meeting, held talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart in Tbilisi on May 29.

“There are broad possibilities in defense cooperation, particularly in respect of education, military-technical cooperation,” the Azerbaijani Defense Minister said after meeting his Georgian counterpart on May 29, adding that intensive efforts will also be made to boost trilateral defense cooperation between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. 

Speaking at a news conference after the meeting with Hasanov, the Georgian Defense Minister said: “Azerbaijan is the most strategic partner for Georgia in the region.”

“We have discussed details of bilateral military cooperation; we have talked about cooperation in military industries; sharing of experience and information and we have also talked about further deepening of trilateral cooperation – Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey,” Alasania said.

He also said that during the summit in Tbilisi on May 6, presidents of the three countries, among other issues, also “expressed political will to deepen military cooperation.”

“Today the ministers of the two countries reaffirm that we will deepen comprehensive cooperation between Georgia and Azerbaijan in the military sphere and I want to stress that this cooperation is directed solely towards defense of our countries’ security,” Alasania said.

During his visit to Georgia, the Azerbaijani President also met President Giorgi Margvelashvili on May 29.

The Georgian President’s office said that “need for deepening cooperation in military-technical and military industry area” was noted during the meeting. It also said that trilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, as well as holding of joint drills for providing protection to energy transportation infrastructure was also discussed.