Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili Clarifies His Attendance at the 'Belt and Road Forum in China Where Putin Gave a Speech
By Liza Mchedlidze
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
On October 18, Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili attended the 'Belt and Road' initiative forum in China, where Vladimir Putin gave a speech. Davitashvili clarified the purpose of his visit to China to journalists, stating that the circulating information regarding his visit to China is unfounded and no closed negotiations were held during the visit to China.
According to Davitashvili, they strictly followed the diplomatic protocol while maintaining their non-acceptance of the Russian occupation of Georgian territories. He added that Georgia has been actively participating in the international forum of the 'One Road, One Belt' initiative since its establishment.
"The forum was held exactly parallel to the commission. We took part in the forum, and Georgia participated in this forum both this year and in previous years. We had an invitation this year as well, and I participated with our delegation. I think there is nothing surprising here. I want to tell you that about 150 countries participated in this forum. The forum was attended, among others, by the Secretary General of the United Nations, as well as several leaders of the European Union and European countries. I think that participation in this forum is a very ordinary thing, and the scandal that they are trying to create with edited and artificially created footage or information is absolutely baseless because it was important for us to participate with our partner country in the format in which Georgia was represented in previous years," Davitashvili said.
The Economy Minister stated that the placement of heads of state and delegations, including ministers, was separate and was not known beforehand.
"We were at the invitation of President Xi Jinping. When the host country invites you, it is part of diplomatic protocol that we accept the invitation when we are participants in the forum itself, so we attended the reception that President Xi held. We were unaware of the participant's whereabouts location. I would like to emphasize that we did not have any negotiations, dialogue, or meetings, and this information is false; they are mere speculations.
Also, the placement of heads of state and delegations, including ministers, was separate. Therefore, the formation of a single image is a montage. We participated because of the respect we have for our partner country. This respect is towards the host country and not any other gesture, particularly not towards the representatives of the occupying country," said Davitashvili.
