“We are ready for a relationship with the United States of America that serves the interests of both countries and both peoples,” declared Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili.

He added that the desire to reset relations had been expressed on both sides.

Papuashvili responded to a question about Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s earlier statement that communication between the Georgian and American sides would deepen before the end of May. A journalist asked the Speaker what Georgia could expect in terms of a reset of relations with the United States, to which Papuashvili replied:

“May will come, and we shall see. Following the conversation between the U.S. Secretary of State and Georgia’s Prime Minister, the most significant point was that both sides concurred on the key matter: a shared desire to reset and strengthen the relationship. On our part, we have outlined the criteria that would allow us to recognise a genuine reset. Our principal criterion is the establishment of a new strategic partnership. We are moving in that direction. We approach this matter from the standpoint of our national interests, just as the United States approaches its own foreign policy from the standpoint of its national interests. It is the stated policy of the Secretary of State that the United States recognises that other countries have their own national interests, and enters every conversation with that understanding.

The fact that relations between Georgia and America have reached an unacceptable level is entirely the fault of the previous administration. Georgia bears no share of the responsibility for that. And so, now as then, we are ready for a relationship that serves the interests of both countries and both peoples,” Shalva Papuashvili declared.