A delegation of Turkish officials led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Georgia on 11 August for a two-day visit. The Turkish delegation, which includes government ministers and more than 100 businessmen, is seeking to negotiate the expansion of border crossing points between the two countries and is reportedly interested in specific investment opportunities in Georgia, with a special focus on the planned construction of a network of high-voltage electrical transmission lines, the joint modernization of the Batumi airport and a highway through the port city of Batumi. Erdogan also met with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili, and President Mikheil Saakashvili before formally opening a Georgian-Turkish business and investment forum in the Georgian capital. The Georgian president and Turkish prime minister also discussed the resumption of construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the status of the ongoing project to develop the Kars-Tbilisi railway. The Turkish delegation was expected to visit Batumi on 12 August to review the Turkish-financed modernization of the port facilities and to inspect several local hotels that are about to be privatized. (Caucasus Press)