“The greatest obstacle today to acting in accordance with national interests is foreign interference that meddles in countries’ internal affairs and seeks to pass off outside interests as the interests of the people and the nation,” stated the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, speaking to journalists in Istanbul following his address to the plenary session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) General Assembly.

He further called for the creation of an international legal framework for protection against foreign interference.

“Every country must act in accordance with its own national interests. When countries act in keeping with their genuine national interests, peace is more durable and cooperation more stable. The primary obstacle to pursuing national interests today is foreign interference, pressure on governments to act not in the best interests of their own people but in the service of external political forces. This is what truly distorts relations between countries and undermines stability.

My appeal to the Assembly’s participants was that protection against foreign interference is of the utmost importance. A country’s defence does not end at its physical borders; a country must also protect itself from foreign interference in its institutions and from attempts to exert influence over its society. A legal framework is required for this purpose.

Such a framework exists in many countries, including Georgia. However, due to the prevalence of double standards, what is perfectly acceptable in the land of Jupiter is considered unacceptable by some in the land of the ox. It is essential that a unified international framework be established for protection against foreign interference, one to which all countries will subscribe and by which all will be guided,” Papuashvili stated.