Tbilisi Mayor: US is tightening law similar to legislation we adopted, which is understandable given global challenges

Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said he considers the United States’ decision to tighten regulations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) understandable in light of the challenges facing the world today.

Speaking to the media, Kaladze said that every country seeks to protect its state and its people.

“You may remember the pressure and attacks we faced years ago when we made a specific decision regarding transparency. By the way, this is still continuing today — we continue to hear deliberately inaccurate statements that are filled with lies and falsehoods, telling us that these laws should be repealed. Of course, we will not take a step that would harm the country and society.

Transparency is one of the main foundations of democracy. Accordingly, when we say that the public should know who and which organization is receiving funding, where that funding comes from and which specific projects it is being allocated to, making this information public is important.

The fact that the United States is further tightening the relevant law, a copy of which we brought here and based on which we have adopted similar legislation, is entirely understandable — why and for what purpose — because the challenges facing the world today are such that, naturally, every country takes care of itself and its people,” the mayor said.