PM Gharibashvili talks Economic growth, national security challenges and EU summit in Prague at the 'Wine Days' festival in Telavi
By Liza Mchedlidze
Monday, October 10, 2022
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Gharibashvi visited Telavi as part of the festival "Wine Days". Together with the members of the government, the Prime Minister hosted the representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Georgia in the framework of the festival. Prime Minister also responded to the questions from media.
The ambassadors picked grapes in the historical vineyard of Tsinandali and took part in a culinary master class. Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili introduced diplomats to the tradition of harvesting in Georgia and talked about the importance of viticulture and winemaking for Georgia.
As the head of the government noted, Georgia has an 8,000-year history of winemaking. He expressed his hope that even more tourists will visit not only Kakheti, but all regions where wine is produced.
Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili gave a speech where he talked about the message of the festival and the history and importance of winemaking in Georgia:
"First of all, I want to wish you all a happy day. Today we officially started "Wine Days", and we wish to celebrate the wine festival every year, so we named it "Wine Days"" said Prime Minister.
"We have a unique 8,000-year history of winemaking, and my wish was that all those winemakers, be it large or medium-sized companies, small entrepreneurs, cellar owners, all presented their own wine production, and besides, we should make it a public holiday. It should be an annual festival, like in many successful countries in Europe. This is our main message."
Irakli Gharibashvili expressed hope that winemaking will attract more tourists in future:
"I believe that even more tourists will come, not only to Kakheti, but to all regions where wine is produced, and this should become our trademark, they say. The main message is that Georgia is the homeland of wine," said the Prime Minister.
As for the new initiative, which is the initiative of President Macron - the European union. I want to tell you that we had very interesting discussions in Prague, we gathered the leaders of 44 countries, then 4 working groups were created there, and I had the honor to lead one of them.
In response to a journalist's question, which was related to the first summit of the European political community initiated by the European Union, in which the prime minister took part in Prague.
According to him, the main challenges in Europe and the whole world today are of security.
"We heard a very interesting discussion, we all participated. The main challenge that exists today in Europe and around the world is naturally the security challenges, this is the war in Ukraine that does not end, which finds even more dangerous expressions, and of course we are all interested in having peace in our country.
Our main concern is the peace and security of our citizens, of all of you, of all citizens of this country. The second main topic, which was this, is energy security.
Today there is a very acute crisis in Europe, an energy crisis because, as you know, Russia has cut off gas, it has already reduced its gas supply to Europe by 7%, and in fact European countries are now discussing how to replace Russian gas, which of course will not be very easy in the short term. In perspective - these topics were discussed, naturally, the war in Ukraine is a big challenge for the whole of Europe, there has not been such a crisis in the whole world since the Second World War".
He also emphasized the importance of peace in the region.
"Georgia, as one of the prominent countries in this region, is a participant in these processes, we take part in peace negotiations, there should be peace in our region.
In Azerbaijan, in Armenia, naturally, in our neighboring countries, in Turkey, we are interested in having a closer relationship, and the first steps of this were outlined because the first meeting was held, the Prime Minister of Armenia met with the President of Turkey and also with the President of Azerbaijan, and Georgia is also involved in the mediation process.
The main thing that I want to tell you is that the country does not face any challenges, we very firmly follow our path, our chosen policy, it is a peaceful policy, and our citizens will not have any interruptions in the winter either in terms of energy supply," the Prime Minister said.
The head of the government paid attention to the reports of international organizations. According to him, Georgia has a record, double-digit economic growth.
"So we must continue to be calm and firm in the development of the country. As you know, the World Bank's assessment was also published and we have the most record, double-digit economic growth throughout Europe and Central Asia. The situation in European countries is very difficult in this direction as well.
In this background, I would like to tell everyone that it is very important to maintain such a peaceful environment in the country, within the country. We have to be very calm, we certainly have our challenges - 20% of the country is occupied and with all this in mind we need reason, lack of emotions, more work, more economic development, more prosperity and more love and positivity," said Irakli Gharibashvili.
