An ambassadorial of 54 ambassadors of Georgia to foreign countries and international organizations has ended in Tbilisi. At the meeting, the top priorities of the Georgian diplomacy were described as "the fight for the withdrawal of the Russian army from Abkhazia and South Ossetia" and "attraction of investment." The minister of agriculture spoke with the ambassadors about promotion of Georgian wine and mineral water in Western markets, the minister of economy development talked about attracting investment through diplomatic resources, and the deputy head prosecutor discoursed on the promotion of Georgia as corruption-fighter number one in the world.
The current chairman of the OSCE, Lithuanian foreign minister Audronyus Azhubalis, attended the meeting and promised Georgia to revive the OSCE mission in South Ossetia and support them in becoming a NATO member.
The foreign ministry of Georgia announced significant visits planned for the autumn on the first day of the ambassadors’ meeting. In October the president of France Nikolas Sarkozy will visit Georgia; then Tbilisi is to host a NATO-Georgia committee meeting and a session of NATO with the participation of the general secretary of the alliance, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. These events are described as support in the problem of Russian-Georgian relations around Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Tbilisi expects Sarkozy to express a clear position on implementation of the six-item agreement of August 12, 2008. According to Georgia and some other states, Russia hasn’t implemented the key item of this agreement, as it has refused to withdraw its military forces to their pre-war positions. Georgia also expects that occupation by Russia and its refusal to implement the agreement will be criticized by ambassadors of NATO members at the visiting session of the NATO-Georgia committee.
Azhubalis stated that, at the summit of the alliance in Chicago, Georgia could get a road map for entering into the alliance. “The member-states of NATO, which agree with Georgian membership, should encourage other countries to take Georgia into the alliance. I don’t want to speak about the form of encouragement, but Georgia devotes a large share of its GDP to military development. It has strong positions in Afghanistan. Georgia deserves membership in NATO,” he said.
The foreign minister of Georgia continued the theme: “In 2008 a session of the NATO Council took place in Tbilisi for the first time. Georgia was a different country then. Three years after the Russian aggression we correspond much more to the standards of the alliance.”
However, Azhubalis stated that Georgia is too high on the Singapore model of development. “Talks on free trade with the EU will show Georgian preferences: Singapore or Brussels,” the minister said. Mikhail Saakashvili and his main aide on economic issues, Kakha Bendukidze, have stated many times that the Singapore model is a model for economic reforms in Georgia.
Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to VK
