Ruling party official says “decisions about Georgia made only in Georgia” following withdrawal of US President reception invitation to PM

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said “decisions about Georgia are made only in Georgia, and everyone should get used to that”, in comments after an invitation to Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze to attend a reception hosted by the United States President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly 79th session in New York was withdrawn this week.

Specially inviting the Prime Minister of the country, 20 percent of which is occupied by Russia, only to then cancel this invitation, I do not think it is a very reasonable, or even effective, move”, the ruling party official said.

He further alleged the development was a “new lifeline for the failed domestic opposition” ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for October 26.

“There will be a continuation [of this scenario], however, decisions about Georgia are made only in Georgia and nowhere else, everyone has to get used to it”, Mdinaradze concluded.

Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, on Wednesday expressed disappointment over the matter, saying “what we have seen from the US administration is, frankly, an insult to both America and its people. The more inexplicable or stubborn the actions [from the US] seem, the more they reflect the state of Georgia’s opposition”.