Georgian PM assures country’s EU-NATO aspirations not against Russia

Georgia wants to convince Russia that its firm commitment to be integrated into the European Union and NATO is not against its interests, according to Georgian Prime Minster Giorgi Kvirikashvili in an interview with EFE.

“We will use all resources in order to show Russia that Georgia’s Euro and EuroAtlantic integration is not against Russia,” Kvirikashvili pointed out regarding two key priorities of Georgian foreign policy, despite the rejection of its powerful neighbor.

The head of the Georgian government, in office since last December, highlighted Tbilisi’s interest in rebuilding its relations with Moscow after breaking off diplomatic ties in 2008 after the war in South Ossetia and amid Georgia’s strong proWestern inclinations.

“We have long standing historic relations, we have the same religion, which is something that cannot be neglected, but unfortunately during the last several decades Russia has been neglecting Georgia’s sovereign rights to determine its faith,” Kvirikashvili said.

“It’s about Russian politicians to understand that normalization of the relations with Georgia is possible, but an important precondition for that is honoring Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Georgian leader emphasized in reference to the separatists in South Ossetia and Abkhazia; two Georgian areas recognized as sovereign states by Moscow.

There is an informal format between the special representative of the Prime Minister of Georgia and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, according to Kvirikashvili, who added that both sides are “discussing economic relations, humanitarian relations, cultural relations and tourism.”

The prime minister acknowledged that “in political dimension there is no progress. Russia still continues its policy of integrating political and military structures of Abkhazia and South Ossetia into the Russian space. They have signed the integration and cooperation treaties with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.”

However, Kvirikashvili said “we have a determination to continue a constructive approach” to normalize relations with Russia and he recalled that “Georgia has declared many times in many international formats that we will never resort to any military solution to this conflict.”

Regarding foreign policy priorities, Kvirikashvli highlighted the signing of an association agreement between Georgia and the EU, as well as a “deep comprehensive free trade area agreement” that liberalizes nontariffs barriers with the EU’s 28 member states.

“But maybe more important are the reforms that are associated with this process, which are transforming this country into a truly European state, which reforms the political system, to improve and build institutional democracy and, of course, build market economy institutions of European standards,” the Georgian premier added.

“We believe that Georgia is getting back to its European roots because Georgia has been Europe historically, with its culture, traditions, and we believe this is a natural process of getting back to our home, which is Europe,” Kvirikashvli explained.

He also highlighted that obtaining a system of visa waiver, in accordance with the free trade agreement and the association agreement “is a logical step. Because without moving freely for small and medium enterprises, without enabling Georgian young people to go freely to Europe, association agreement and deep comprehensive free trade area agreement will not be instrumental, they will not bring enough results without introducing free movement of people.”

“Georgia fulfilled all technical requirements,” Kvirikashvli said citing a report issued by the European Commission, which mentioned that Georgia even surpassed some of the benchmarks, and he believes that “Georgians deserve to be granted visa free travel for short travel. This is about business; this is not about employment permission.”

As for NATO, the prime minister said this subject is one of Georgia’s “highest priorities and we have very good progress. In 2014 the Wales Summit Georgia received a substantial package, the most important component of which is Training and Evaluation Centre of NATO in Georgia which was inaugurated recently.”

“Georgia participates in international peacekeeping operations, in Afghanistan, South Africa, and this is a very important contribution to the peacekeeping operations from our side,” Kvirikashvli continued.

On Ukraine, he said that it “has gone through a severe period of crisis and their territorial integrity has been violated similar to the Georgian case” and stressed Tbilisi’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

When asked about the appointment of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili by the Ukrainian president as the governor of Ukraine’s Odessa Oblast after he was granted Ukrainian citizenship, and despite being wanted in Tbilisi for abuse of power, Kvirikashvli said “The choice of appointing governors, political positions is the sole choice of Ukraine. We can only regret that Ukraine could not learn the lesson on the mistakes of Georgia in the past.”

The prime minister was asked about his upcoming visit to the United States and he admitted that it is “the most important strategic partner for Georgia, we have very important relations. The USA has been a strong supporter of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within recent decades.”

He also highlighted Tbilisi’s need for more U.S. economic presence in Georgia which, according to him has “one of the best business climates not only in the region, but of the world, that is recognized by the World Bank Doing Business Ranking. We are 24th in the world. We have one of the best tax, simplest tax systems, we have only 6 types of taxes. Very soon we are introducing important tax reform when we will abolish profit tax. It will be similar to the Estonian model, when we will only tax distributed earnings, so there will be zero tax provided so that earnings are reinvested in business.”

In light of the ongoing reforms, Kvirikashvili stressed the democratic changes implemented by the country since the defeat of Saakashvili in 2012, followed by the Georgian Dream coalition’s rise to power.

“After 2012 there is a dramatic improvement in all important areas: human rights we have very large improvements that have been recognized by the UN Human Rights council report last year. We have since 2012 important improvements in all governance indicators according to the World Bank indicators in all major subareas, in stability and excess of violence, freedom of expression, quality of regulations etc,” Kvirikashvili declared.

“But most importantly the people of Georgia they feel the change. We have introduced a universal healthcare service for all citizens, which is something any country would be proud of,” he concluded.