The Telegraph: Georgia needs 'active support' from the UK

Shanker Singham, former trade adviser to the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox, who now chairs Global Vision, said in his recent article in The Telegraph that “leaving the EU is no reason to change UK engagement" in Eastern Europe and the Caucuses.

In an article titled “Global Britain should support its freedom-loving friends on Russia’s borders”, Singham underscored that Georgia, which is “the most advanced democracy” in the region needs "active support” from the UK.

The Foreign Office should be listening carefully. Here is a country located in a strategically vital region: sandwiched between Russia, Iran, Turkey and the Black Sea, and with a prime position on China’s Belt and Road (BRI) programme between the major European and Asian trade routes”, he wrote.

Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

Speaking of “constant Russian provocation and aggression” against Georgia, Singham said the current Georgian government "has built a miracle” with its policies that prioritise:

• a competitive economy, 
• commitment to free markets and investment, 
• low tax and regulatory burdens.

In his article Singham noted as well that Georgia “sits in one of the most volatile and over-militarised regions in the world”. 

However, he said, the Georgian Dream government “has recognised that unfortunate reality” and “their lowering of tensions” with Moscow has “brought stability to a region that otherwise could become a flashpoint of East-West tensions, as it has been in the past”.

In conclusion, Singham underscores that  Tbilisi’s goal "of condemning aggression without being unnecessarily provocative is a difficult needle to thread and they deserve public political support".