Georgia and its Neighborhood Conference in Washington: ‘Georgia moving on right path’
Foreign experts stated that Georgia has big potential to become a member of the EU and NATO. Photo: Georgian Embassy to US.
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The Georgia and its Neighborhood Conference has been held in the Washington DC yesterday, co-hosted by the Levan Mikeladze Foundation for Caucasus Studies and the Georgian Association in the USA at the Middle East Institute, where foreign experts and diplomats stated that Georgia is moving on the right path.
The important thing is that Georgia keeps moving on the right path. Its trajectory is correct and precisely this is indicative,” stated Luke Coffey, a political analyst for the Heritage Foundation.
He said that Georgia has great potential to become a worthy member of the Euro-Atlantic Alliance and the European Union.
Democracy is a process, rather than an obtained result. Every country tries to become better,” he stated.
Coffey said that some manage this successfully, while others have internal problems.
Happening now Discussion: Strategic Environment of #Georgia???????? w/
— Embassy of Georgia to the United States (@GeorgianEmbassy) May 7, 2019
Fred Starr/@CACI @afpc,
Robert Cekuta/Former US Amb 2Azerbaijan, Claire Keiser/McLarty Associates, Luke Coffey/@Heritage, Mike Carpenter/@PennBiden, William Courtney/Former US Amb to Georgia pic.twitter.com/5uz3QYmobi
William Courtney, former US Ambassador to Georgia stated that Georgia proved that it can have a pro-Western foreign policy vector while retaining a pragmatic policy toward Russia.
He said there remain fields where more progress is necessary, such as the judiciary and the rule of law.
I am referring to Georgia’s trade relations with the Russian Federation despite the occupied territories,” he said.
He stated that privatisation of agricultural lands must take place in Georgia in order to attract foreign investment, adding that reforms must take place, which will increase the volume of the gross domestic product.
Happening now: #Georgia???????? and Its Neighborhood conf Panel2: GEO, Black Sea, & #Europe discussion w/ Kurt Volker/@McCainInstitute,@DrJMankoff/@CSIS, Svante Cornell, @CaCI @afpc, Jonathan Katz/@gmfus, Elisabeth Kvitashvili/Georgian Association in the USA pic.twitter.com/jq6kvIXA1I
— Embassy of Georgia to the United States (@GeorgianEmbassy) May 7, 2019
Kurt Volker, US Special Representative for Ukraine also stated that today Ukraine is “further away from Euro-Atlantic integration" than Georgia.
However, he said “Tbilisi understands that the next step taken toward Alliance membership probably will not be integration itself but rather an agreement package”.
I think that Tbilisi must continue the path towards NATO independently from Ukraine, without affiliating with it”, Volker said.
He further underscored that the country's economic development is also an important factor on this path.
Researcher of the US Heritage Foundation Luke Coffey says that the US government can take steps to help the Georgian government carry out its peace initiative ‘A Step Towards a Better Future’, which aims to improve the humanitarian, social and economic conditions of the populations in Georgia’s Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia).
The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the US Helsinki Commission, which is an independent agency of the US government, has held a hearing about the illegalities committed by Russia on Georgian territory.
President of the United States (US) Donald Trump has hosted Georgian Ambassador to the US David Bakradze at the White House.
Today President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili signed a decree and officially appointed David Bakradze as Georgia’s new Ambassador to the United States (US).