“In February 2022, we received a request to join the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. There was a very rough political interest against Georgia,” said Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkiye, responding to the question.

The panel moderator asked the leaders: “I would like to ask leaders to share very briefly their personal opinion on what role diplomacy can play in fostering cooperation in this evolving landscape. And since we have so many young diplomats, policy makers and candidates. What skills and expertise diplomas and policy makers require to effectively navigate the complexities of a multipolar world order?”

According to the PM, surrounded by different wars, the “power of diplomacy is extremely weak.”

“Taking into consideration Georgia’s own specific experience, first of all, we have to differentiate between times of peace and times of war when talking about the power of diplomacy. This power is completely different when we compare the two different kinds of paths of development of the world.

Currently, we have to exist in times of war. We are surrounded by different wars, and in this situation, based on our experience, I can say that the power of diplomacy is really extremely weak. I can tell you that in February 2022, we received a request to join the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. We received another request at the end of February 2022. And there was a very rough political interest against Georgia. In this situation, of course, diplomacy was not really helpful. We had to launch a very intensive political fight to defend Georgia’s national interests and defend peace in Georgia. It was just only a political fight without any power of diplomacy.

Even until now, we are facing these challenges. We have to be rather focused on the fight for peace and prosperity of our nation, rather than being focused on diplomatic tools with different countries. And I can tell you that we have even some specific countries, where the Georgia ambassadors are left without any practical kind of job because it’s just impossible to deal with the specific countries at this stage. They are complaining quite frequently, but we are always telling them that we have to wait for times of peace. Because, as soon as the time of peace is restored, of course, diplomacy will prevail.

Currently, political interests prevail over the force of diplomacy and as soon as peace is restored, we are absolutely confident that diplomacy will prevail over politics. We really believe that diplomacy is a more positive tool for defending nations’ interests rather than just following rough political interests. So, we are patiently waiting for the times of peace when diplomacy will gain more power,” he said.