The Georgian Embassy here has been pressing the government to open an embassy in its capital of Tbilisi ever since it opened an embassy-level diplomatic mission in Seoul two years ago.

Georgia is on the short list for the opening of new South Korean embassies, Tblisi’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs David Jalagania said Monday.

Jalagania was in Seoul on a three-day visit from Sunday for the second annual bilateral political consultations between Georgia and South Korea with his counterpart Ha Tae-youk, director-general of the European Affairs Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The first one was hosted by Georgia in Tbilisi in 2012.

“Our foreign policy is diversification; not to remain in only our region. One dimension of this is the Asian dimension,” Jalagania said, adding why it is so important for Georgia to strengthen its ties with Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

“We opened a full-fledged embassy here in 2011. We are now awaiting reciprocity from the Korean side,” he said. Currently, South Korea’s only embassy in the region is in Azerbaijan.

“They understand that having representation in Azerbaijan is not enough because of the increasing role of the region.” But, he said, there are a “bouquet of issues” that South Korea must consider before opening a new embassy, such as financial, human resources and planning aspects.

South Korea cut its number of diplomats by more than 20 percent this year, shifting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ trade role to other ministries.

Georgia, a small country strategically located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and between the energy-rich Caspian and Black seas, has been working hard to expand its diplomatic reach in East Asia and upgrade its bilateral ties with countries such as Japan and Korea.

In 2007 and 2008 Japan and Georgia opened embassies in each other’s capitals.

Georgia opened an embassy in Seoul in 2011, and Georgian Ambassador to South Korea Nikoloz Apkhazava has said he hopes that Seoul’s plan to open an embassy in Tbilisi will soon be official.

In addition to the bilateral talks, Jalagania signed an MOU Tuesday with Yun Duk-min, chancellor of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, upgrading cooperation with Georgia’s diplomatic training center before returning home.

The two countries celebrated the 20th anniversary of their diplomatic relations last year.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)