In his first address after being elected chairman of the Georgian Dream party, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze emphasised the party’s 13-year struggle for Georgia’s independence and dignity. He focused on defending Georgia against what he described as global threats to sovereignty and traditional values while outlining twin national goals: bringing prosperity to all Georgian families and achieving national unification, both socially by healing internal divisions and territorially through peaceful reunification with Russia-occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Kobakhidze highlighted the party’s commitment to democratic strengthening, economic development, and EU membership, while positioning the upcoming local elections as critical for continued progress.
His complete address is provided below:
“Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome our party’s founder and honorary chairman, Mr Bidzina Ivanishvili. I welcome the members of the party’s political council, parliamentarians, government members, local government representatives, and every delegate. I welcome our party members and the public.
Being the chairman of the Georgian Dream is, of course, a tremendous responsibility and, naturally, a great honour. Let me express my deepest gratitude to each of you for your support and trust.
I want to thank Mr Irakli Garibashvili, who chaired the party for the past year and a half and contributed significantly to our party’s electoral success last year.
I also want to thank him for all his service to the country and our political team during his years in high political positions.
Ladies and gentlemen, 13 years have passed since the founding of the Georgian Dream. These have been 13 years of unequal but righteous and successful struggle for Georgia’s independence, peaceful development, prosperity, and the dignity of the Georgian people.
This struggle was initiated by our party’s founder and honorary chairman, Mr Bidzina Ivanishvili. I take the liberty, on behalf of each of you, to express immense gratitude to him for his service to the Georgian cause.
Thank you, once again, for your dedication to the homeland, for pursuing Georgian interests with great wisdom, foresight, and patience, for ending authoritarianism in Georgia and strengthening democracy, the rule of law, and human rights.
It is Mr Bidzina Ivanishvili’s achievement that today Georgia has its first government since the restoration of independence, under which our country has not encountered war, and we have had 13 continuous years of peace.
Our country maintains peace, stability, and a rapid pace of economic development. Most importantly, today, our small but proud country is independent and sovereign like never before. Once again, thank you very much for all this.
Today, the world faces extremely difficult challenges. We see how influential forces try to compel even the strongest states to relinquish their sovereignty. We see how they devastate the economies of many countries. We see how they trample on the fundamental principles of democracy and the rule of law, even in countries considered the cradle of these principles.
We see how they attempt to erase national and religious identity from countries with ancient cultures. We see how they fight against Christianity and other traditional religious faiths. We see how they combat and dilute all spheres of culture. We see how they use different countries as cannon fodder to achieve their own flawed political interests.
We see how they try to erase people’s personal identity, how they oppose morality and traditional values, how they promote countless vices that would have been very difficult for any of us to imagine being presented as normal even 10-15 years ago.
Naturally, Georgia could not remain unaffected by these unhealthy global political processes, and accordingly, throughout these 13 years, we have had to fight uncompromisingly for Georgia’s sovereignty, the welfare of the Georgian people, democracy, and the rule of law.
We have had to fight: to protect Christianity, to maintain peace, to strengthen traditional values and public morality. This is an unequal battle where only truth allows you to maintain the advantage.
This is an extremely difficult battle where faith provides the strength to maintain firmness, knowing that any display of weakness could be devastating for your country. Consequently, any retreat is a crime against your own country.
Many thanks to the Georgian people, who over the past few years have shown exceptional knowledge and wisdom and have stood firmly on guard for Georgia’s national interests. It was precisely the trust and support of the Georgian people, society that was the main factor that allowed us to overcome the most difficult challenges in the most trying moments.
With the support of the Georgian people, last year we won elections equivalent to a referendum, which preserved Georgia’s peace and opportunity for development. We thank each of our patriotic fellow citizens for firmly defending Georgia’s national interests.
Georgian Dream is a political force that has never retreated a single step when it came to Georgia’s national interests.
Our representatives in the Parliament of Georgia, the Government of Georgia, and local government loyally and fearlessly serve and protect Georgia’s interests everywhere and always. Thank you very much to each of you for this.
Less than 5 months remain until the local self-government elections. We have begun preparations for the polls and will officially open the election campaign in a few weeks. The party will be fully mobilised for the 10th anniversary victory, and this victory will be another important step towards an even stronger, more upright, more developed Georgia.
With the support of the Georgian people, we will win the mayoral and council elections in all 64 municipalities, ensuring that development does not cease for a single day in any municipality and that we fully protect the interests of every region, every corner of Georgia.
We have clear state objectives. These are: further strengthening the democratic system and rule of law, enhancing Georgia’s independence and security, developing the Georgian economy, consolidating Georgia’s foreign policy positions, and Georgia’s membership in the European Union.
Along with state objectives, we have two national goals – two national Georgian dreams: our goal is for prosperity to reach every Georgian family. Therefore, we will spare no effort to continue Georgia’s rapid economic development, which has allowed us to double the country’s economy over the past 4 years.
Our national goal is the unification of Georgia. By unification, on the one hand, we mean the unity of Georgian society. We see how they try to impose hatred of each other on Georgians from outside, how they try to sow hatred against everything Georgian, including the Georgian state and our Mother Church. After removing radicals from Georgian politics, which will happen very soon, we will certainly defeat hatred, reintegrate misguided fellow citizens, and unite our society. This is our national task.
We will not allow anyone to split Georgian society with hatred, and we will unite people with love for each other and for their homeland.
On the other hand, by unification, we mean the physical reunification of Georgia. The return of Abkhazia and Abkhazians, Tskhinvali and Ossetians to a unified Georgian state. We believe that with peace, principles, love, and patience, we will certainly restore trust and thus unity, and fulfil our main national Georgian dream of a united Georgia.
Ladies and gentlemen, love overcomes hatred, goodness overcomes evil, and truth overcomes falsehood. We will win many more times because we are driven by love for our country and people, we desire more good for our country and people, and we are righteous in the fight for our homeland. May God strengthen us in all endeavours that serve Georgia’s progress.
Thank you very much to each of you for your principles and unity. May God protect Georgia,” Irakli Kobakhidze concluded.
