President Zourabichvili did not attend Ambassadors' Conference due to 'gross violation of diplomatic protocol', Administration says
By Liza Mchedlidze
Tuesday, December 27, 2022
The President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili did not attend the Ambassadors' Conference 2022 held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Based on previously published information, the President, Prime Minister, members of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Chairman of the Parliament were invited to the event.
According to the president's administration, the reason Salome Zourabichvili did not attend the conference of ambassadors is that she was not given the place stipulated by the protocol. Administration assessed this as a "gross violation of diplomatic protocol" in their press release.
"The conference of ambassadors was opened today. The President of Georgia welcomes the participants of the ambassadorial, thanks the diplomatic corps of Georgia for their activities during the period full of the most difficult challenges and wishes all Georgian diplomats a successful new year in 2023.
For the President of Georgia, the embassy is the most important forum in relations with the diplomatic corps of Georgia. Despite this, the President did not participate in the opening event of the 2022 Ambassadors' Conference.
According to the Constitution of Georgia, the President of Georgia is the head of the state of Georgia. The Constitution gives the highest status to the institution of the President in relation to all other state institutions.
Based on the above, gross violations of the generally recognized and established rules of state and diplomatic protocol are not allowed in the events of state institutions, especially at the main diplomatic conference organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. Such a violation, unfortunately, took place at the opening event of the ambassadors' conference and was expressed by the host of the event in not assigning the appropriate place for the President of Georgia during her participation in the conference.
The administration of the President of Georgia also considers it important to inform the public about the appointment of ambassadors by the President.
Six months after filing a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court regarding the constitutionality of the inaction of the President of Georgia regarding the appointment and dismissal of Georgian ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions, the presidential administration does not have any information regarding the said process.
The ambiguity created by the mentioned constitutional lawsuit in relation to the constitutional powers of the President requires its timely elimination, based on the state interests of Georgia," the statement reads.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to President's Administration with a written statement, where they expressed concern that the "world-recognized rule" of the protocol layout was unacceptable to the President and hope that the technical circumstance will not be an obstacle for the President of Georgia to participate in high-level meetings with Georgian diplomats in the future.
"4 central seats were designated for high-ranking guests at the event, at which time, the constitutional position of the president was taken into account and the president's seat was allocated to the central chair, to the left of the president was the seat of the Prime Minister of Georgia, and to the right of the speaker of the Parliament of Georgia.
The mentioned rule of protocol arrangement is recognized in the world and it is unfortunate that the arrangement given to the administration of the President was found to be unacceptable. We hope that the mentioned technical circumstance will not prove to be an obstacle for the President of Georgia to participate in high-level meetings with Georgian diplomats in the future," the statement published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reads.
