Bilateral relations between Iran and Georgia are entering “new stage” and Tbilisi hopes ties will further deepen, Nino Kalandadze, the Georgian deputy foreign minister, said on May 22.

She was speaking after signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Georgian and Iranian Foreign Ministries “on cooperation in the media sphere.” A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Ramin Mehmanparast, who visited Tbilisi with a group of Iranian journalists, signed the memorandum.

“Georgia is highly grateful to the Iranian authorities’ policy towards Georgia, which we deem as very reasonable and which involves unconditional support to Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister said.

“A new stage has begun in our bilateral relations and we welcome it and we hope that we will deepen [relations] in all the fields. Signing of this first memorandum is a clear example of that,” Nino Kalandadze added.

Before signing the memorandum, the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman met with Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze and discussed “broad range of bilateral issues”, including Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki’s planned official visit to Georgia, the Georgian foreign ministry said.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman said on May 21, that the visit would likely to take place in June, followed by a visit of Georgian PM Nika Gilauri to Tehran. Ramin Mehmanparast also said that details of possible visit of Iranian, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, would also be discussed during those high level contacts.

“Relations between Iran and Georgia are excellent,” Mehmanparast said. “In political affairs we have very good relationship, but we think that we should increase our cooperation in economic affairs... especially in energy sector, agriculture.”

Speaking at a conference of Iranian and Georgian journalists in Tbilisi on May 21, Iran’s new ambassador to Georgia, Majid Saber, said there was a great potential in boosting bilateral cooperation in energy sector. He said that Iran planned to invest in construction of hydro power plant in Georgia and the Georgian side had requested Iran to share its experience in wind energy development.