“Diplomacy was the main tool for us to protect our sovereignty, to protect our independence, and to protect our national interests. That is why we strongly believe in the role of diplomacy,” the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, stated during a leaders’ panel at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

According to him, diplomacy is the ground for peace and stability in the country.

“First of all, when we talk about the role of diplomacy, I want to mention that Georgia is 23 centuries old and diplomacy is part of our DNA. During these 23 centuries, we had to exist in a very complicated geopolitical environment, at the crossroads of empires. Many empires around us disappeared, but Georgia survived, and diplomacy was the main tool for us to protect our sovereignty, to protect our independence, and to protect our national interests. That is why we strongly believe in the role of diplomacy.

Since the restoration of our independence in the nineties of the last century, we have made many mistakes, because Georgia was perhaps not diplomatic enough, not pragmatic enough, and that was perhaps the reason for those mistakes. But we learned a great deal from this. We learned how to be diplomatic and pragmatic again, and that is exactly how we managed to keep peace and stability in our country today. So our recent experience, since the restoration of independence, is one more reason for us to strongly believe in the role of diplomacy.

I think that should be the approach of all countries. All countries should be focused on diplomatic solutions to their problems, diplomatic solutions to different issues. But currently, I have to say that raw political interests prevail over diplomacy. That is the overall situation, as I understand it, around the world, and it should somehow be changed,” Irakli Kobakhidze has stressed.

According to the Prime Minister, the South Caucasus countries are now concentrated on diplomatic solutions and strengthening connectivity, and all nations worldwide should follow this example.

“I would like to emphasise the role of the rules-based international order, which is very much linked with the substance of diplomacy. If we do not manage to re-establish the rules-based and values-based international order across the world, diplomacy will never prevail over raw political interest, and we should be very much focused on that.

One more thing I would like to emphasise is the role of connectivity and healthy economic connections. If healthy economic connections and healthy economic interests prevail over raw political interests, the role of diplomacy will be much stronger across the world. The South Caucasus is a very good example of this. Our region has had many problems and a very specific context, but now the countries of the South Caucasus are very much concentrated on diplomatic solutions, on pragmatic solutions, and on strengthening connectivity. This helps enormously, not only in keeping peace in the region, but also in strengthening prosperity for our nations. This is a very good example, and I think all nations across the world should follow it.

We have to build bridges instead of burning them. That should be the overall approach, and in that case, the role of diplomacy will grow much stronger as well,” Irakli Kobakhidze concluded.