Govt’s constant task is to protect Georgia’s national interests - PM

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.

Garibashvili told the media the Government managed to have an “unprecedentedly” high, “double-digit” growth in economy, despite the “unpredictable situation all over the world” and maintain peace amid the attempts to involve Georgia in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. There have been direct statements from the Ukrainian authorities affirming their goal to open a “second battlefront” in Georgia, he noted.

Sending the former President Mikheil Saakashvili to Georgia and constant provocations [by the Ukrainian authorities] have served this goal", the Head of the Government added.

The PM wished Georgia’s Ukrainian friends peace and an ending of the war “as quickly as possible”, as well as the return of their [Russian-occupied] territories, and stressed “nothing could recover” Ukraine’s “heavy losses”, including casualties of Ukrainian people and children.

The parties [of the conflict] need to somehow return to the negotiating table, Garibashvili emphasised, adding the difficult environment created in Ukraine and throughout the world, as well as in the Black Sea region, became “more unpredictable”.