Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told her visiting Georgian counterpart, Gela Bezhuashvili, of, as the Israeli Foreign Ministry put it in an English-language press release, “the problematic view Israel has of the ongoing dialogues between Georgia and Iran.”

Meanwhile, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that during the meeting on October 23 the two foreign ministers had “underlined the growing dynamic of strategic cooperation” in bilateral relations.

The Georgian side has been pushing for agreement on liberalising air traffic, promoting new investment opportunities and protecting cultural monuments, according to the Georgian Foreign Ministry.

In an interview with the Israeli daily, Haaretz, Gela Bezhuashvili said Georgia wanted to have “a strategic partnership with Israel on the same level as our strategic partnership with the United States.”

Haaretz interpreted Bezhuashvili’s remarks as meaning increased bi-lateral military cooperation, particularly military procurements from Israel.

Since 2005, Israel has scaled back on such procurements, limiting itself to selling only defensive weapons to Georgia, because, according to the Israeli newspaper, of Russian pressure.