Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
Georgian Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili is visiting the USA. His predecessor Bidzina Ivanishvili had many times rejected invitations from Washington in order to “synchronize watches” with the American leadership. Ivanishvili explained the rejections were due to the fact that he didn’t want to listen to accusations of arresting political opponents, i.e. supporters of the former president Saakashvili, who was the Americans’ favorite for a long time.
However, after the presidential elections, the topic of “hunting down the opposition” lost its acuteness, and the new premier thought it would be a nice time to visit America. During the preliminary consultations the Americans answered neither “yes” nor “no” to the question of whether it was appropriate to meet Barack Obama in the White House. It is thought that a visit by a Georgian leader is only successful if he meets the US President. The tradition comes from Shevardnadze and Saakashvili’s times.
This time the Americans said that a conversation between Garibashvili and Obama “could take place, if President finds time for it in his tight schedule.” As a result, there was a performance: during a meeting between the Georgian Premier and the vice-president of the USA, Obama suddenly walked into the room. Everybody welcomed the President with applause.
The conversation lasted several minutes – formal phrases on “support of territorial integrity” and “Euro-Atlantic strivings” and expression of gratitude for the contribution of Georgia to the NATO Afghan operation. No serious questions were discussed, as that wasn’t planned.
The Georgian expert community is focused on the form and place of the meeting. Why didn’t it take place in the Oval Office? Why didn’t the Americans want a protocol meeting?
It seems there are two reasons for this. First of all, Washington hasn’t decided its attitude to the new Georgian authorities yet – they cannot ignore Tbilisi and its problems, considering the events of 2008.
Secondly, obviously, the USA traditionally treats protocol issues carefully. Even though, according to the new constitution, the prime minister is the true leader of the country, not the president, the Americans may not consider the 31-year-old prime minister to be a figure equal to the American President.
