“We cherish our partnership with the European Union, with every single EU member state. We also expect that this partnership is based on mutual respect. Sadly, this is not always the case,” stated Georgia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maka Botchorishvili, during a joint press conference with Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.

She expressed concern over the apparent intention to undermine the democratic choices of the Georgian people.

“We value very much the support that you provide to Georgia, I would like to highlight the last visit of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to Georgia as a clear demonstration of your strong support and friendship. Georgia and Hungary enjoy a strategic partnership which is translated into high level political dialogue between governments. We are committed to further strengthen this dialogue and engage across all dimensions and to strengthen cooperation in different fields.

It is important to promote business ties between two countries in order to strengthen economic cooperation and better exploit business opportunities. I believe the agreement which was signed and will enter soon into force on mutual promotion and protection of investments will play an important role to encourage business to business cooperation.
Enhancing people-to-people contact is also important for strengthening bilateral ties and cooperation, and we value the scholarship program that Georgian students receive from the Hungarian government.

Georgia is the most vulnerable country in Europe. We have no NATO security umbrella and 20 percent of Georgia’s territory still remains under occupation by Russia. Facing current security challenges in the region, maintaining peace and stability is absolutely important and essential for Georgia’s future and I thank Hungary for its support and best understanding of Georgia’s delicate situation, ” Maka Botchorishvili added.

The Minister emphasized that European integration is Georgia’s key foreign policy priority.

“This priority is backed by our history, identity and will of Georgian people.

The current government of Georgia is the one who created the solid foundation for the irreversibility of Georgia’s European future and from 2014 when we signed the Association Agreement remains firmly faithful to the commitments related to European integration.

Regretfully, some internal and external actors use this vital issue only for political speculations. The European future, which is supported by the vast majority of Georgian citizens, is used to fuel polarization in society and form an additional threat to the country’s stability and security.

We cherish our partnership with the European Union, with every single EU member state. We also expect that this partnership is based on mutual respect. Sadly, this is not always the case and I would like to extend my gratitude to Hungary for respecting Georgia’s statehood, sovereignty and democracy. It is alarming to observe the scale of intention not to legitimize the democratic choice of Georgian people.

Despite the fact that more than 2 millions of Georgians voted in the parliamentary elections and expressed their political choice in the presence of an unprecedented number of international and local observers, speculations related to the elections and election results do not stop.

It is also alarming to observe how much pressure is put on international observation missions from certain actors to influence their independent work. All these undermine the reputation of international institutions and also pose a very serious threat to stability and democratic development,” she said.

Maka Botchorishvili expressed hope that upcoming discussions among European leaders about Georgia will be based on objective realities.

“Next week European leaders will discuss Georgia, as you mentioned. I still hope that objective reality will be presented around the table and wrong perceptions will not prevail while taking EU decisions.

I thank you again for your very strong and very clear support for Georgia. It is very important for both European side and Georgia.

As a member of parliament I had an opportunity to be here in Budapest several times at a number of events that your presidency organized and it was my privilege to participate in these events during the Hungarian presidency and I want to use this opportunity to thank my colleagues from the parliament for the support they extended to Georgia that was very much important,” the Minister concluded.