PM highlights Georgia’s contribution to Western partners’ peacekeeping missions to parliament

Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday highlighted the contributions Georgia has made in international peacekeeping missions carried out by the country’s Western partners, stressing Georgian citizens were not only recipients of support from allied countries but also contributors to the partnerships.

"Our contribution and [sacrifice] is very valuable. More than 500 of our soldiers have been seriously wounded and 35 sacrificed their lives in missions carried out by our Western partners in Iraq, Afghanistan, before that [...] in Kosovo [and] then in the Central African Republic”, he told lawmakers.

“At that time, this [latter] mission was organised under the auspices of the European Union and faced a big problem. Without our involvement and the contribution of the troops we sent, this mission would not have been possible”, the PM stressed.

Garibashvili told MPs while the “very high price” of the contribution had been clear to citizens of the country, the choice had been made “not out of obligation” but due to “respect” and with “awareness that we also want to be participants in these global processes and international missions".