16 Apr 2014

Tuvalu joins traditional friends by renewing ties with Georgia

7:26 am on 16 April 2014

Tuvalu's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Taukelina Finikaso, says re-establishing diplomatic relations with Georgia is an important step towards strengthening ties with traditional friends.

In 2011 the previous government decided to recognise Georgia's two breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia and as a result set up diplomatic ties with Russia.

That's now been retracted and the foreign minister recently travelled to Georgia to sign a formal agreement.

Taukelina Finikaso says the former government's decision meant Tuvalu risked isolation, as one of only five countries which recognised those regions.

"Georgia is working towards becoming one of the EU members, and we have very strong bonds with the EU and we have been consistently assisted by the EU over the past few years."

Taukelina Finikaso says they had a drop in assistance from the European Union for this coming cycle and they hope the agreement with Georgia will rectify that in future.