Georgia cut diplomatic relations with Tuvalu, five months after this tiny South Pacific island nation recognized breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

A presidential order, cutting diplomatic ties, was issued on February 16, a year after Georgia established diplomatic and consular relations with Tuvalu.

In September 2010 the Georgian government decided to allocate USD 12,000 in aid to the permanent mission of Tuvalu to the UN for covering the cost of “transpiration of medical cargo” from the United States to Tuvalu.

Tuvalu was among those 57 countries, which voted in favor of Georgia-sponsored UN General Assembly resolution in June 2011, reiterating right of internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their homes in breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

In September 2011, after trip to Russia, Tuvalu’s PM Willy Telavi (PM’s second name is similar to the one of the main town of Kakheti region in eastern Georgia) visited Sokhumi and Tskhinvali and recognized these two breakaway regions.