Salome Zurabishvili proposes setting up safe-travel corridors from EU countries to Georgia, – President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili made this statement in an interview with the British edition Financial Times. Zurabishvili also stressed the need to increase agricultural investment and improve ties with the European trade chain.

Salome Zurabishvili has been pressing EU leaders for closer ties despite the pandemic crisis that now grips the bloc. She said that although it might seem as if the EU would not “have time or appetite for anybody else,” the emergency showed how “regional ensembles or blocs are going to be much more important” in the recovery.

Her proposals include setting up safe-travel corridors from EU countries to Georgia — an increasingly popular tourist destination that has suffered only 12 deaths (as of May 21) from the pandemic — as well increasing agricultural investments by the bloc and connections to European supply chains.

“For us, it is clearer than ever that the only perspective to see through the crisis is to do it together with our European partners.” Ms Zurabishvili said. “We are going to be in that phase now of being even more adamant about what we want.”

As the British edition writes, “The pandemic is likely to fuel concerns in Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova that their funding under the EU’s so-called neighbourhood investment programme might be squeezed during wrangling over the bloc’s next seven-year budget.

“Tbilisi has previously called for more funding from the EU — whose members Bulgaria and Romania have Black Sea coasts — in areas such as undersea electricity and fibre optic cables, and ferry boats to link to Georgian ports” – the article reads.