Civil Georgia ) - President Saakashvili hosted on May 17 visiting Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt in Batumi, Adjara, where both of them opened a museum dedicated to Alfred and Ludwig Nobel.
The museum is located in a building which once served as an office for the Nobels. The brothers were early pioneers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the oil industry in Baku. Batumi was, as it is now, a major transit point for oil destined for western markets.
"The world oil boom started in Baku; however, related processes were usually managed from Batumi... Georgia was therefore a significant part of European history... But by then Georgia was a part of the Russian empire" Saakashvili said at the opening ceremony.Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili is expected to visit Sweden on June 7-9.