Parliament committee chair: widespread support for Georgia’s territorial integrity is “encouraging”

Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Georgian parliament's foreign affairs committee chair on Saturday said the visit of the Georgian parliamentary delegation to the 145th Inter-Parliamentary Union assembly in Rwanda has been “quite productive” and the widespread support for the country’s territorial integrity - “encouraging”.

Samkharadze said the Georgian delegation, led by the country’s parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili, had held meetings with representatives from more than 20 countries within the framework of the assembly, discussing Russia’s aggression against Georgia and the existing situation in the country’s occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia), as well as the support for Georgia’s territorial integrity at international forums.

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The committee chair noted the delegation had had “thorough and in-depth” discussions with representatives from South American, Pacific, and African countries, with whom Georgian officials did not have “frequent” interrelations, and stressed all countries had confirmed that their positions on the non-recognition policy on the occupied territories would not change.

Samkharadze added that the representatives of the countries had made a request to be informed on the situation in the occupied territories “as frequently as possible” and he stressed the Georgian government would continue working “closely” with these nations beyond the assembly.