President Says Georgia ‘Needs Active Foreign Policy’

President Giorgi Margvelashvili said before wrapping up his week-long working visit the United States that Georgia needs “active foreign policy” and dozens of his meetings in New York and Washington was part of this effort.

“Georgia needs active foreign policy. My meetings with the European leaders in New York [on the sideline of the UN general assembly], dozens of meetings in Washington and public speeches aimed this very purpose. As a result, I am confident, the issue of Georgia will become more active in the western capitals,” he told journalists in Washington.

In separate remarks, Margvelashvili said in an interview with the Foreign Policy that his visit aimed at increasing “the visibility of Georgia on the U.S. radar screen.”

Speaking at the New York-based think tank Council on Foreign Relations, President Margvelashvili voiced concern that “Georgia more or less disappeared from the active radar screens” in the U.S.

Keeping Georgia high on the international agenda, he said, “is relevant not only for my country, but also very relevant for the region and for the United States.”

“The first reason why we should be talking about Georgia… is because of the unique role my country is playing in the development of the Eurasian continent,” he said, pointing out at Georgia’s important geopolitical location and mentioning China’s increasing interest towards the region in terms of its drive to revive Silk Road trade route.

“Another reason,” he said, “is Georgian-Russian relationships, which I believe should not be viewed only in Georgian-Russian context… Tolerating Russia’s policy in Georgia… or in Ukraine and putting Georgia away from global discussions and not considering these cases will have consequences for the international relationships all around the world.”

The third point, he said, why Georgia is important is that it is “a democracy and democracies around the world should be supported.”

President Margvelashvili met his Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, and Croatian counterparts, who were visiting New York for the UN General Assembly.

In Washington, President Margvelashvili met IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.

He met House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer; Republican Congressmen Michael Turner and Ted Poe, as well as Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch; Republican Senators John McCain; Bob Corker; Jeff Sessions; Ron Johnson; Tom Cotton, and Democratic Senator Ben Cardin.

Margvelashvili also met Mark B. Levin, an executive director of Washington-based National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry.

The Georgian delegation, led by the President also included lawmakers from the opposition UNM and Free Democrats parties. GD ruling coalition was also invited to include its lawmaker in the delegation, but, citing health issues, MP Irakli Sesiashvili was not able to accompany the President.

A separate delegation from Georgia, led by PM Irakli Garibashvili, was also visiting New York this week, participating at the UN General Assembly and its side events. Garibashvili address the UN General Assembly on October 1.

President Margvelashvili, who has previously indicated that it would have been better if he addressed the UN General Assembly instead of the PM, welcomed Garibashvili’s UN speech for voicing “support towards Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic course, democratic values, economic freedom and strengthening of state institutions.”

Before wrapping up his visit, PM Garibashvili met UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on October 2.

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