Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili (R) and visiting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko attend the official welcoming ceremony in Tbilisi, Georgia, July 18, 2017. (Xinhua/Giorgi Induashvili)

KIEV, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine and Georgia agreed to promote cooperation between the two countries within the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, the Ukrainian government press service said on Monday.

During a meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili held in the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi, visiting Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said the two countries should combine their geographical and transport potential together to become a major link along the routes of the Belt and Road.

The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, comprises the overland Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and aims to revive and expand cooperation and exchange on and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes, which nurtured trade between Asia and the outside world in the past.

In particular, Kiev is willing to work with Tbilisi to speed up the establishment of direct railway routes between Asia and Europe through the territories of the two countries, Groysman said.

For his part, Kvirikashvili said that the partnership between the two countries within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative has particularly bright prospects in the light of the already-functioning free trade regime between Ukraine and the European Union and the free trade deal between Georgia and China, which was signed in May 2017.

Groysman arrived in Tbilisi earlier on Monday for a two-day official visit to hold talks with Georgian authorities and take part in the International Silk Road Forum on Nov. 28-29.