Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili responded to the “criticism” and “controversy” leveled by the four ruling Georgian Dream party dissenters towards the U.S. Embassy and stated that “further expansion, deepening, and excess of this controversy is not in the interests of our country.”
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“Just criticisms and asking critical questions is not enough and not necessary. Moreover, I want to remind everyone that America, after we regained independence, has implemented many positive projects, [and] has provided a lot of help to our country in many directions,” the Prime Minister told journalists on 1 September at the opening of the Eurobasket competition in Tbilisi.
Noting that “we will not strengthen our relations with America but weaken it with our polemics,” the PM expressed his desire to “strengthen and take care of these relations.”
He reminded “all fellow citizens” that the stable development of small countries like Georgia “requires strong allies. Such as the United States of America, our main strategic partners, the European Union, and European states.”
“Our small state, but very strong state, very strong people, cannot achieve great success without partners and allies,” the PM emphasized.
He added that his role as Prime Minister is to “maximize our relationship with America as our main strategic partner and with the European Union – that’s our main path.”
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The PM also underscored that all countries, including the U.S. “have their own interests in all directions.” “America has its representatives, its Ambassador. We, of course, respect America, representatives of America, the Ambassador, and all its representatives,” he added.
Emphasizing the “close cooperation and partnership” of the ruling party with U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan, the PM noted that “Ms. Degnan is a very active Ambassador and you know that she is actively involved in the implementation of all the projects and programs implemented by America in our country.”
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The Prime Minister drew attention to the “many challenges” facing the country, including occupation, and underscored that “this requires a lot of work.” “We need peace, stability, prosperity, development, and we need to develop and strengthen relations. This is my main message,” he added.
In the end, the Georgian PM stressed that all people in this country “have and will have” freedom of expression, however, he reminded fellow citizens that “our main interest should be strengthening our relations.” “Among them, we must take care of the relationship with our main strategic partner,” he said.
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