Merkel starts official visit to Georgia

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will arrive in Tbilisi today at 15:30 local time (14:30 MSK) as part of her South Caucasus tour.  

Georgia's Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani and the Ambassador of Georgia to Germany Elguja Khokrishvili will meet her at the airport and she will hold her first meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze.

The meeting will be followed by a joint press conference of Merkel and Bakhtadze.

"The visit of the German chancellor has high significance for us. We want to improve our bilateral cooperation with Germany and move it into a new format. Germany, as a leading country of the EU which supports Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration, has a very important role in this process," Agenda.ge cited Khokrishvili as saying.

The envoy added that the German government has a new policy towards countries in the region and the chancellor is going to discuss very important issues during her visit to Georgia.

Merkel will also meet the President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili today.