Georgian Foreign Ministry responds to statement of President’s Administration

Georgian Foreign Ministry responded on Monday to the refusal of the Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili to attend the Ambassadors Conference 2022 in Tbilisi and the statement of the Presidential Administration about the “gross violation of the generally recognised and established rules of state and diplomatic protocol” during the event organised by the foreign office earlier today.

In a statement the Ministry noted that the constitutional position of the Georgian President was taken into account and the latter’s seat was allocated to the central chair, noting “aforementioned rule” of protocol arrangement was recognised worldwide and it was a “pity” that the arrangement given to the Presidential Administration had been found to be “unacceptable”.

“Four central seats were designated for high-ranking guests at the event, and the constitutional position of the President was taken into account and the President's seat was allocated to the central chair, to the left of the President there was the seat of the Prime Minister of Georgia, and the seat of the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia to the right”, the Georgian foreign office said. 

The statement also  hoped the “mentioned technical circumstance” would not be an “obstacle” for the Georgian President to participate in high-level meetings with Georgian diplomats in the future.