Ruling party head highlights “maintaining peace” as “one of main challenges” in 2023
In an interview with Imedi TV, the party official said the continued war in Ukraine was creating “special risks” for Georgia. Photo: Georgian Dream Press Office
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Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said “maintaining peace” in the country would be “one of the main challenges” for authorities in 2023.
In an interview with Imedi TV, the party official said the continued war in Ukraine was creating “special risks” for Georgia.
Therefore, we will have to be very careful this year as well. There will be difficulties that we must overcome together with the Georgian public. Without vigilance of the Georgian public and a healthy assessment of everything, it would be very difficult for us to overcome problems and ultimately it would be difficult to maintain peace in the country”, Kobakhidze said.
The ruling party head also noted development of the country’s economy among the most important challenges in the year ahead, and claimed tensions in the domestic political scene had been reduced.
[I]t is important to maintain domestic political stability, and it is important that the degree of [political] polarisation has been reduced, which has occurred due to the weakening of the radical opposition”, he concluded.
Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee, on Wednesday said the Georgian Government had stated “very clearly” and “from the beginning” its position on support for Ukraine “in everything” except transfer of weapons to the country amid its defence from the ongoing Russian invasion.
The Georgian Defence Ministry on Tuesday rejected claims in domestic media that said a Buk surface-to-air missile system had been handed over by Ukraine to the country “free of charge” in 2008, following an article by Ukraine’s charge d’affaires who said his Government had asked their Georgian counterparts to hand the system back to aid Ukraine’s efforts in its ongoing conflict with Russia.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Sunday said steps taken by the Georgian Government over the past year had been “not only correct, but also had no alternative” and allowed it to “maintain peace and tranquillity” in the country.
Georgia’s Vice Prime Minister Thea Tsulukiani on Saturday told the media the Georgian Government would not allow the country to be involved in the military confrontation.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said the Georgian Government was acting for the “sole purpose” of “protecting and pursuing the national interests” of the country.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday rejected the “false” premise in a CNN reporter’s question to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on an alleged export of sanctioned goods to Russia through Georgia.
Archil Talakvadze, the Georgian Parliament Vice Speaker, on Monday said Georgia would “never become a place for circumventing the sanctions” imposed on Russia by the international community for its invasion of Ukraine.
The Georgian Government’s constant task is to protect the national interests and needs of the country and its people, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Saturday, the Government Administration said.
Georgian Agriculture Minister Otar Shamugia on Thursday told the country’s Parliament the “responsibility” of the Government to “maintain peace [and] prevent a difficult political, social and economic situation” in the country had gained a further significance since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.