Parliament Committee Chair pledges “smooth sectoral functioning” after pause in US financial support

Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the European Integration Committee of the Georgian Parliament, on Tuesday said suspension of foreign funding “of any project in Georgia” would cause “neither a collapse of any sector nor a stoppage of the country's functioning”, in comments following media reports alleging the United States’ suspension of funding of the Lugar Laboratory in Tbilisi.

Georgia has enough resources to implement all necessary projects that are in the interests of the country. In general, such an attitude on the part of partners is really disturbing, when the basis for making these decisions is absolutely unclear”, Botchorishvili said.

Georgian Health Minister Mikheil Sarjveladze on Tuesday rejected the media reports about suspension or closure of operation of the Laboratory and the National Centre for Disease Control.

The reports came after the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently announced suspension of more than $95 million in aid to the Georgian Government, after the adoption of a controversial domestic law on transparency of foreign influence by the Georgian Parliament late May.