Georgian Parliament Speaker: Gov’t seeks to start relations with US from clean slate, focusing on concrete results

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday said the Government’s desire was to launch relations with the United States from a clean slate, focusing on specific results.

In his remarks, Papuashvili noted that the strategic partnership was unilaterally and unfairly canceled by the previous US administration in order to harm Georgia.

“I will remind you that the strategic partnership was a consolation prize for [imprisoned former President] Mikheil Saakashvili in 2009, after the defeat of 2008 [war], and thus gave him a certain consolation prize so that the Georgian people would not remove the dictator Saakashvili from his own cabinet at the same moment”, the Speaker said.

“This is the method that we observe today in relation to Ukraine, when Ukraine is offered sometimes associated membership in the European Union, sometimes accelerated procedures, in exchange for the fact that all this will happen after the conclusion of a peace agreement with Russia, part of which will be the withdrawal of territories from the Ukrainian control. This is the history of the former strategic partnership, now we want this to be a true strategic partnership, which will be based on the national interests of both countries”, he continued.

Papuashvili added that the Georgian Government was establishing any relationship based on national interests.