Komorowski in Georgia

President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski has visited Georgia for the first time. Komorowski arrived in Batumi from Baku to meet Mikhail Saakashvili and was met by the president and his wife on Batumi's Piazza Square, with the national anthems of Georgia and Poland playing.

According to a source at the State Chancellery, the chairman of the Georgian parliament, David Bakradze, also took part in the meeting of the presidents. The participants at the meeting discussed Georgian-Polish cooperation and Poland's assistance in integrating Georgia into European and international organizations. However, in contrast to President Kaczynski, Poland's current president refrained from unequivocal support for Georgia's accession to NATO, and stated only its "support for efforts." At the same time, Tbilisi does not hide the fact that it largely relies on strong support from Poland in the process of European integration. "Given the fact that Poland is an active lobbyist for Georgia on the international scene, especially regarding Georgia's attempts to join the EU, it is very important for us that Poland has comprehensive and objective information about the processes in the country, especially concerning security issues," Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said.

At a joint press conference with the Polish President, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili made some important statements, noting that "the leader of Poland is the most welcome guest in Georgia, as the Georgians are the most pro-Polish people in Europe, which has been proved in history." The Georgian president praised the Poles for overcoming the financial crisis better than anyone else in the world and noted that a strong Poland is very important for all countries with euro-Atlantic aspirations. At the same time, Saakashvili once again criticized EU policy towards Belarus: "It is absurd to assert that Russia is a more democratic country than Belarus, but the policy of isolation, for some reason, is held only against Belarus, which leads to the loss of its sovereignty and its subordination to Russia, whereas Belarus does not occupy territories of neighboring countries and the fact must be taken into consideration that Belarus is one of the most talented European nations.

Shortly before that, Mikhail Saakashvili announced that Georgia intended to purchase several thousand tractors from Belarus. Given the current situation in the economies of both countries, this decision can be regarded as a political gesture. According to some reports, Georgia has been offered to purchase the same number of tractors from South Korea, and experts claim that, regarding price and quality, this deal would have been more beneficial to Georgia. It is also worth noting that President Saakashvili recurrently talks about Belarus in a similar fashion at virtually every meeting with any Western visitor.

At the end of his speech at the press conference, Saakashvili presented Komarovsky with a book about Georgia, published in Warsaw under the heading "Gaumarodzhos" and noted that he had "hundreds of thousands of Polish friends on Facebook".

Komorowski was less talkative. In a brief speech, he emphasised economic cooperation, calling for "increased cooperation to promote mutual investments."

The heads of state laid flowers on the avenue named after Lech and Maria Kaczynski, where a monument will appear soon. Those present at the laying of flowers claimed that Komorowski was cold and restrained. Apparently the attitude of Komorowski did not reflect disrespect for his predecessor, but a desire to distance himself from the political context: Saakashvili has repeatedly hinted that the death of Kaczynski, of “the biggest European friend of Georgia, who in fact saved the capital of Georgia by his arrival on August 12, 2008, was not at all an accident ".

Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for VK