Foreign Minister: Georgia continues pragmatic policy with Russia
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, September 3
Georgia’s newly appointed Foreign Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has stated that Georgia continues its pragmatic policy with Russia.
The Foreign Minister made the statement in the course of his speech at the Ambassadorial in Tbilisi, where the country’s leading politicians hold meetings with Georgian and foreign diplomats.
“Despite problems, we are ongoing our pragmatic policy with Russia. Negotiations over the security and political issues will be renewed in the frame of the Geneva International Talks. When it comes to trade-economic issues the topics will be covered by Georgia’s and Russia’s special envoys,” Kvirikashvili said.
The Minister stressed that Georgia would be in close strategic cooperation with the neighbouring countries of Azerbaijan and Turkey.
“Traditionally, we have had close friendly relations with Armenia,” Kvirikashvili said.
While commenting on the Minister’s statement, Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stressed that pragmatic relations with Russia did not mean any change in Georgia’s foreign orientation.
“We are striving towards membership the NATO and the European Union and it is the historical choice of Georgians that is irreversible,” Garibashvili said.
Georgia’s foreign course was the main topic of President Giorgi Margvelashvili’s address to diplomats he could not voice due to his absence because of health-related problems.
The written address released by the President’s administration reads that Georgia’s security and well-being are directly linked to the country’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
"A lot has been done in this direction in just a single year. The NATO Summit in Wales, the Association Agreement ratification and activation, significant progress in the visa liberalization process - this is an incomplete list of the steps which has contributed to our country's development, but the Euro-Atlantic integration process is needed even more in order to strengthen and deepen our relations with all countries,” said the statement.
The President was convinced that the diplomats would attach particular importance to the country's most important issues during the ambassadorial; in particular, they would focus on bilateral and multilateral international cooperation and development, problems of the country's territorial integrity and de-occupation.
