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Taukelina Finikaso (left), Foreign Minister of Tuvalu, and Maia Panjikidze, Foreign Minister of Georgia. (Official photo.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Tuvalu has withdrawn its recognition of the Georgian breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

A government delegation from Tuvalu is visiting Georgia these days to sign a protocol establishing diplomatic and consular relations between the two states.

According to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, the protocol says the two states agree to develop friendly relations, sovereign equality based on cooperation, territorial integrity and principles of not interrupting each other’s domestic affairs.

The foreign ministers signed the protocol, which says Tuvalu recognizes Georgia’s territorial integrity ‘within its internationally recognized borders’; which means it considers Abkhazia and South Ossetia as part of Georgia.

The protocol revokes a decision by Tuvalu in 2011 to recognize the two regions.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia were first recognized by Russia August 27, 2008, after the Russia-Georgia war. September 5, Nicaragua also recognized them, followed by Venezuela on September 10, 2009, Nauru on December 16, 2009, by Vanuatu May 23, 2011 and Tuvalu on September 18, 2011.

Vanuatu withdrew its recognition on July 12, 2013.