Speaker Papuashvili: Only valid measure is Georgia’s national interests – country’s stand in relations with U.S., EU, and the world

“Experience has taught us one thing above all, that our only measure is the national interest of our country. That is how we speak to the United States, to the European Union, and to every country around us or otherwise. We are ready to reach an agreement on matters that serve Georgia’s national interest. We cannot agree on matters that run counter to our national interest,” declared Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, at a briefing held in the legislature.

He further stated that the Georgian government stands ready to cooperate on any matter that falls within Georgia’s national interests.

“There is one thing in particular that the experience of the last four to six years, during which a particularly intense assault and onslaught against Georgia began, has taught us. The most important thing is to know this: our only measure is the national interest of our country. That is how we speak to the United States, to the European Union, and to every country around us or otherwise. We are ready to reach an agreement on whatever falls within Georgia’s national interest. We cannot agree with anything that runs counter to our national interest. We have said on more than one occasion that our principal national objective is the reunification of our country. For that reason, we are ready to take any step that serves that goal and to cooperate on that matter. Any step that runs counter to it, such as being pushed towards escalation with Russia, which the EU has been attempting for several years now, that, of course, is not a path we will take. The same applies to our second objective, the economic well-being of our population: what is good for our people, we will do; what is not good for them, we will not,” declared Papuashvili.

Papuashvili further stated that external forces must accept the reality that Georgia has a sovereign government committed to acting in line with the country’s national interests.

“So if there is anything external forces must reconcile themselves to, it is that Georgia has a national government, one that acts in accordance with national interests. They will not install a puppet government here; they will not install those people who wave foreign flags, be that the British flag, or the Ukrainian flag, now one country’s flag, now another’s, in place of the Georgian flag. For as long as they do not seat these Rustaveli protesters, these other countries’ flag-wavers, these puppets, in the offices of government, Georgia will pursue a policy in keeping with its own national interests. That is what they must reconcile themselves to,” declared Papuashvili.