Georgian FM: protecting sovereignty from foreign influence priority for any independent state

Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili on Saturday said that any sovereign state must protect itself from foreign influence and interference, noting that the United States was actively strengthening its legal framework in this direction, while defending Georgia’s own steps to safeguard its sovereignty.

In her remarks, Botchorishvili noted that all sovereign states consider it essential to protect themselves from external influence and interference.

“Any sovereign state considers it important to protect its country from foreign influence and interference. This is exactly what the United States is doing, strengthening the legislation that regulates this field; for us, this is essentially an open topic”, she said.

The Foreign Minister further emphasised that discussions in Georgia about limiting foreign influence and ensuring national sovereignty have been met with strong reactions, which she interpreted as evidence of the importance and sensitivity of the issue.

“When we began speaking about restricting foreign influence and interference and ensuring that nothing threatens our country’s sovereignty, you saw what reactions these attempts and steps provoked. This once again proved that legislation and the creation of a legal framework is the way in which any issue should be regulated. In this case, it concerns foreign influence”, Botchorishvili noted.

“This is further proof that Georgia is managing to address the challenge of foreign influence and interference through the right steps”, she concluded.