Ukraine, Georgia vow to work closely on defense

Visiting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (L), Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili hold a joint press conference after the signing ceremony of the Declaration on the Establishment of Strategic Partnership between Ukraine and Georgia in Tbilisi, Georgia, July 18, 2017. (Xinhua/Giorgi Induashvili) 

TBILISI, July 18 (Xinhua)-- Visiting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his Georgian counterpart Giorgi Margvelashvili vowed on Tuesday to share information and experiences on each other's defense capabilities.

While speaking at the joint press conference after talks with the Georgian president, Poroshenko said he highly appreciated the long-time friendship cultivated by the two peoples throughout history.

"We just signed the historic document, the Declaration on the Establishment of Strategic Partnership, which is the highest form of trust between Ukraine and Georgia," Poroshenko said, stressing that the partnership will unite the two countries in confronting common challenges.

"We especially focused on sharing ideas on the training of our armed forces in both Georgia and Ukraine," said Poroshenko, adding that the two countries will share experiences in building up their respective defense capabilities.

Regarding the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, Poroshenko expressed his confidence that the only way out is to implement the Minsk agreements and pull out all foreign troops.

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili, for his part, called the visit of the Ukrainian president to his homeland historic and vowed to push relations to a new high.

The two sides signed the Declaration on the Establishment of Strategic Partnership between Georgia and Ukraine and a series of cooperation documents.

Poroshenko arrived in Tbilisi, the capital and the largest city of Georgia, earlier Monday for a three-day working visit.