FM says Georgian Gov’t has taken “very precise” steps to prevent donors from causing instability in country

Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili on Wednesday said the Georgian Government had taken proactive steps to prevent external donor-driven instability in the country and had begun addressing key issues long before the United States started openly discussing them.

In her remarks, Botchorishvili noted that the Georgian Government had taken very correct steps to prevent foreign donors from destabilising the country.

“We started to emphasise the issues that the United States is now talking about quite early”, Botchorishvili said in response to a journalist’s question regarding the US President Donald Trump’s declaration of USAID as a corrupt organisation.

She further added that the Georgian Government had long pointed out that donor-funded organisations were directly linked to political parties operating in the country.

Botchorishvili claimed that the funds allocated by these donors were directly connected to political activities in the country.

The Minister further stated that such actions could also be perceived as interference in elections and attempts to influence the electoral process.

“It was a difficult process, but for the vast majority of our society, it has become clear what kind of challenges we were facing, what the Georgian Government was fighting against, and what it was striving for”, she said.

The Minister emphasised the need for the Georgian Government to take immediate action to neutralise such external influences, using legal means to ensure stability.

“To safeguard the democratic development of the country, the only viable approach is through legislative measures. We must make every effort to ensure that our country follows the right path”, Botchorishvili concluded.