Her Excellency Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva, First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Your Excellency, dear Mehriban,

It is my pleasure to congratulate you, on behalf of the people of Georgia and on my own, on your birthday.

This day is an opportunity to reflect on the work you have done over the years to bring our two countries together. Our meeting last year during my visit to Azerbaijan opened the doors to our cooperation in the years to come.

Azerbaijan and Georgia are two nations that are bound by ancient friendship, centuries of common struggle, and common interests as neighborly countries. Our partnership is one based on honesty.

It saddens me to know that you are celebrating your birthday while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on across the world. But as we have come to learn and as I discussed with President Aliyev last April, it is through our solidarity, through international cooperation that the global community will defeat this virus. Let me use this opportunity to once more reiterate my most sincere condolences to those who died from this invisible enemy in Azerbaijan.

And yet, I remain convinced that through this very same international solidarity, the world will come out of the current crisis with more unity and stronger than before. Once this pandemic subsides, I look forward to welcoming you to Georgia.

Madame First Vice-President, on your birthday, let me convey to you and to your family my hopes for health, strength, and prosperity.

Salome Zourabichvili

President of Georgia