Georgian FM: renewing relations with US requires dialogue, engagement from both sides

Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili on Sunday said that renewing relations with the United States required dialogue and engagement from both sides in order to clearly understand what interests the US was pursuing in the region and what may shape the bilateral agenda.

In her interview with Imedi TV, Botchorishvili noted that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has indicated discussions regarding Georgia have already taken place within the US State Department and that certain steps are being planned to reassess the current state of affairs and the legacy of US-Georgia relations under the new US administration.

“We cannot be so naïve as to think that the efforts spent on discrediting Georgia were ineffective. These efforts had certain results. We see, to some extent, a cooling of relations with some of our partners, which is precisely the outcome of these forces’ actions. Particular effort was made with European partners to marginalise Georgia from the European and American agendas. All this came at the cost of portraying the Georgian authorities as if we were doing something wrong or causing harm”, she said.

The FM noted that the Georgian Government had repeatedly expressed readiness to restore relations with the United States, stressing that this requires engagement from both sides.

Botchorishvili further added that the recent statements confirmed a degree of readiness on the US side to renew cooperation and assess what can be done in the interests of both countries.

“First and foremost, this requires dialogue and engagement from both sides, so that we can more clearly see what interests the United States is pursuing in our region and what may be on the agenda of relations between our two countries”, she concluded.