Georgian Parliament Speaker says diplomacy “must reclaim its role” from “twisted” foreign aid practices

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday said diplomacy “should make a comeback” and claim its “rightful place”, which he said had been taken by a “twisted foreign aid practice”.

Papuashvili’s comments came amid controversy related to the United States Agency for International Development, with  President Donald Trump claiming the presence of “rampant corruption” in the body.

Papuashvili alleged with the organisation “for many years, foreign aid gradually turned from aid to capture, from charity to instrument, from plowshares into arms”.

While diplomacy presupposes compromise, search for common interests, and negotiations, the new ‘foreign aid’ sought to implant foreign interests into the recipient countries’ political parties and ‘civil societies’ as their own. The newly acquired ‘interests’ were projected as the interests of the people of the recipient country. Then, defending these implanted ‘interests’ in the name of ‘the people’ became the foreign countries’ major instrument of influence”, the Speaker said in a social media message.

He further claimed that foreign ambassadors had “become instructors for running” the countries of their work instead of “building bridges between the countries and societies”.

This brought about the situation where ambassadors’ task was defined not as building trust with local governments but projecting power onto local authorities. We remember this well from Soviet times: the position of the Communist Party Second Secretary, second in hierarchy in leadership of a Soviet republic, was reserved for a person sent from Moscow”, Papuashvili continued.

He further emphasised the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement that “foreign policy should have been about seeking common interests, not implementing divisive issues abroad”, and noted that this “rightful stance” had “long been lost in the wrongful practices” of foreign aid.

Every donor country now is suspect in misusing foreign aid. Transparency about foreign funds has no alternative any more. Foreign governments should audit and report suspected and potential instances of twisted foreign aid practice”, the Speaker continued.

Papuashvili added that the Georgian Government would fulfill “what we were elected for”, and ensure the “integrity of our democracy from undue foreign interference”.