On October 6, 2011, Consul Cunanan paid a formal courtesy call on Deputy Foreign Minister David Jalagania at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Consul Cunanan expressed his deep appreciation for his appointment and the chance to serve the Georgian people and vowed to strengthen Philippine-Georgian relations. He took the opportunity to brief Deputy Foreign Minister Jalagania on the twin academic Memorandums of Understanding between Caucasus University and Lyceum of the Philippines University and San Sebastian College – Recoletos—the first such agreements between Philippine and Georgian educational institutions, organized by the Consulate—and the aim of exchanging faculty members by 2012.

Consul Cunanan also informed Deputy Foreign Minister Jalagania of his plan to bring a tourism delegation to Georgia in the first quarter of 2012. On the cultural side, Consul Cunanan reported about the very successful Georgian Photo Exhibition held in Baguio City in August-September 2011 and the upcoming Georgian film screenings in Baguio City and in Rizal Park, Manila.

For his part, Deputy Foreign Minister Jalagania expressed gratitude to Consul Cunanan and his colleagues in the Philippines, who played an instrumental role in the freeing and repatriation in March 2010 of 13 Georgian sailors, detained at the Philippine Bureau of Immigration for crimes they did not commit. Deputy Foreign Minister Jalagania assured Consul Cunanan of the full support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Consulate’s different cultural and academic programs. He expressed confidence that ties between Georgia and the Philippines would improve through joint efforts and cooperation.