GERMANY/GEORGIA: SAAKASHVILI OPENS HONORARY

C O N F I D E N T I A L MUNICH 000376 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/22/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV GG GE SUBJECT: GERMANY/GEORGIA: SAAKASHVILI OPENS HONORARY CONSULATE IN MUNICH Classified By: Consul General Eric Nelson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia officially opened a Georgian honorary consulate in Munich on November ¶20. While in Munich, he met privately with Horst Seehofer, Bavarian Minister President (Christian Social Union),and Emelia Mueller (CSU),Bavarian Minister for European Affairs, to discuss economic and agricultural cooperation with Bavaria. In her welcoming remarks to Saakashvili at the ceremony, Mueller expressed support and optimism for Georgia and promised Bavarian solidarity with the Georgian people. She announced that a Bavarian business delegation would travel to Tbilisi sometime soon. On the margins of the event, Minister Mueller told Consul General Nelson and P/E Traub that she and Saakashvili "avoided any sensitive issues" and concentrated solely on agricultural and economic development opportunities and support. She cautiously noted that any real Bavarian help for Georgia would have to wait for "the situation to calm down." ¶2. (U) The Honorary Consul is Professor Claus Hipp, whose international Hipp baby food company has production and distribution in Georgia. Hipp buys and processes only organic raw materials. Most recently, Hipp delivered German humanitarian aid to Georgia after the Russian war in September and presented it to Speaker of Parliament Bakradze. NELSON