Gov’t’s strategic deal with China without Parliament consent “in full compliance” with Constitution - FM

Ilia Darchiashvili, the Georgian Foreign Minister, on Friday told the Parliament the Government had acted “in full compliance” with the country’s Constitution when it signed a strategic partnership agreement with China in July without the consent of the Parliament.

Summoned to the legislative body by the opposition to answer questions related to the recent Georgia-China deal, signed during Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s official visit to the country, the official highlighted the Constitution authorised the Government to implement the country’s foreign policy without prior agreement of the legislative body.

[As part of the Constitution] the PM is authorised to represent Georgia in foreign relations. The [main] law itself determines the forms of accountability of the Government to the Parliament, which does not include the obligation to agree on similar moves or agreements in advance”, Darchiashvili told MPs. 

He further noted the four priority directions in the agreement - political, economic, people-to-people and cultural - were also in “full compliance” with the resolution adopted by the Parliament in 2020 over the country’s foreign policies. 

Darchiashvili cited the document as saying the Georgian authorities would support the strengthening of foreign, economic, trade and people-to-people ties with China. 

The Minister said the contractual base between the two countries had expanded in recent years, pointing to related agreements ratified by the legislative body between 2017 and 2019. 

He noted the agreements included the deals on transportation of passengers and cargo, free trade and implementation of an infrastructure improvement project of psychiatric institutions to support mental health reform in Georgia. 

Darchiashvili noted the Vision 2030 state development strategy, approved by the Georgian Government in November 2022, had also implied strengthening of bilateral relations with China, which he said was the world's second-largest economy. 

The strategic agreement between the countries is of a declaratory nature and expresses the desire of the parties to deepen partnership relations”, Darchiashvili said. 

In his comments, Darchiashvili also indicated a “complicated geopolitical complex”, which he said included the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the recent confrontation between neighbouring Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the Israel-Hamas conflict, and added “in face of the most difficult challenges” his Government had to “implement all foreign political goals and tasks that the country has set”.