President Giorgi Margvelashvili has criticized Georgia’s ambassador to the United States for not accompanying and not even meeting him while visiting New York and Washington DC last week.
Ambassador Archil Gegeshidze was accompanying PM Irakli Garibashvili who was leading a separate Georgian delegation, which was paying a simultaneous visit to New York for the UN General Assembly.
Foreign Minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, has acknowledged the need for “better coordination” among the country’s leadership.
“This is the obligation of the Foreign Ministry to promote the right moral, diplomatic etiquette among those representatives of our diplomatic service, who are simply violating whole set of laws, when they do not meet the President – I was not there for a private visit; I was there as the President of Georgia, and I would have left interesting homework to the Georgian diplomatic mission there” had he met with the Ambassador, Margvelashvili said in an interview with the Rustavi 2 TV late on October 5.
“I had no contact with him whatsoever,” Margvelashvili said of Ambassador Gegeshidze.
In this context, President Margvelashvili also mentioned that “one of the issues that was unacceptable for me during the previous government [when UNM party was in power] was politicization of public service.”
Ambassador Gegeshidze responded that he was “a bit surprised” by President’s criticism and said that he has not violated any law or diplomatic norm as there is no normative act regulating how an ambassador should act in “such an extraordinary” situation when the President and the PM are paying a simultaneous, but separate visits to the country.
Kvirikashvili said the both of the visits – by the President and the Prime Minister – were “very successful” and “useful for our country” and the Georgian diplomatic missions both in the U.S. and the UN worked hard for this purpose.
Giorgi Kvirikashvili, who was appointed as Foreign Minister on September 1, said that before the U.S. trip, he was offering the president’s administration to arrange Margvelashvili’s visit at another time in order to avoid overlapping.
“Unfortunately it was not made possible,” Kvirikashvili told journalists on October 6.
“Of course I think that it would have been better if Ambassador Archil Gegeshidze were in Washington DC during the President’s visit; but because of the PM’s schedule and meetings, including because of those meetings, which were beyond the framework of the UN – there were such meetings, including with the representatives of the U.S. administration – it was decided after consultations with the head of the government [the PM] to leave the ambassador in New York [with the PM] and calling it illegal would be an exaggeration,” Kvirikashvili said.
“The fact that we now have to comment on such issues is bad in itself,” the Foreign Minister said.
“I think that the better coordination among high ranking figures of the country in planning foreign policy steps would be more beneficial for the country. As the Foreign Minister, I will do maximum in order to have such coordination,” Kvirikashvili said.
In New York PM Garibashvili participating at the UN General Assembly and its side events; he also addressed the General Debate of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly on October 1.
In the interview with Rustavi 2 TV on October 5, President Margvelashvili reiterated his position that it would it would have been better if he addressed the UN General Assembly instead of the PM. Margvelashvili, however, also welcomed PM’s UN speech for voicing “support towards Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic course, democratic values, economic freedom and strengthening of state institutions.”
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.
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