PM Irakli Garibashvili, who met Azerbaijani leadership in Baku on September 11, said that “strategic partnership” between the two countries is further strengthening.

Garibashvili, who met his Azerbaijani counterpart Artur Rasizade and President Ilham Aliyev, said Georgia is Azerbaijan’s “reliable partner.”

“I had a very good meeting with President Aliyev. There are no questions between us and we have reiterated that we are strategic partners and we, Georgia and Azerbaijan, will do our best to strengthen each other,” Garibashvili said on September 11.

“You know that we are cooperating in multiple directions and in many sectors. Our cooperation is also planned in agricultural sector. We are strong partners in energy sector. Georgia is a reliable partner and transit country for Azerbaijan and we have strengthened these relations once again,” the Georgian PM said.

“The Azerbaijani companies plan to make more investments in Georgia. We have also discussed these issues and President Aliyev called to make more investments in Georgia,” he said.

Foreign direct investment in Georgia from Azerbaijan stood at USD 95 million in 2013, up from USD 59 million in 2012, according to the Georgian state statistics agency.

Azerbaijani president’s office said that the Georgian PM’s visit contributes "to the development of brotherly relations” between the two countries. “President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan and Georgia were closely cooperating in the region,” Azerbaijani president’s office said.

PM Garibashvili will be visiting Baku again on September 20 to attend a groundbreaking ceremony of the South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion, which is part of the Shah Deniz Stage 2 project and which involves laying of new pipelines across Azerbaijan and the construction of two new compressor stations in Georgia to triple the gas volumes exported through the pipeline to over 20 billion cubic meters per year. At the border between Georgia and Turkey, the pipeline will link into other new pipelines to provide gas into Turkey and the European Union.

A signing ceremony of the final investment decision, paving way for USD 28 billion Shah Deniz Stage 2 project by the BP-led consortium, was held in Baku on December 17 and was also attended by PM Garibashvili for whom it was his first trip abroad in the capacity of the PM.

Before wrapping up his two-day official visit to Azerbaijan, PM Garibashvili toured the 1st Azerbaijan International Defence Industry Exhibition, ADEX 2014, on September 12.

The Georgian PM’s visit to Azerbaijan came three weeks after his trip to Armenia on August 21.