The Daily Beat: 19 February

President Salome Zurabishvili participated in the Munich Security Conference (MSC), where she met with several world leaders, including European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Thom Tillis, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, and the U.S European Commander Christopher G. Cavoli. President Zurabishvili also had brief encounters with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg.

At the Munich Security Conference panel, “A Deeper, Wider and More Capable EU?” Salome Zurabishvili spoke of the importance of EU membership for Georgia and the importance of EU enlargement for the security of the Union itself, emphasizing the existential importance of EU enlargement.

While in Munich, President Salome Zurabishvili gave interviews to Bloomberg, Euractiv, and Deutsche Welle (DW). In the interviews, the President spoke, among other topics, about Georgia’s integration into the EU and NATO, the war in Ukraine, Alexei Navalny’s death, the Black Sea security, and the threats of Russian interference. More detailed information on the topics discussed during the interviews with Salome Zurabishvili can be found in Civil.ge material.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ilia Darchiashvili also attended the Munich Security Conference, holding meetings with his counterparts and high-ranking officials from various countries, including the OSCE Chairman Ian Borg, Albanian Foreign Minister Igli Hasani, the U.S. European Commander/SACEUR Christopher G. Cavoli, the French Minister for European and Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, James O’Brien, the State Secretary of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, Sussanne Baumann and the President and CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy, Damon Wilson.

FM Darchiashvili also met with Benedikt Franke, Vice Chairman and CEO of the Munich Security Conference, focusing on the Munich Security Report, which described the founder and Honorary Chairman of “Georgian Dream”, Bidzina Ivanishvili, as a “pro-Russian oligarch.” According to the Foreign Ministry, FM Darchiashvili stressed that “the report is based on the information of politically biased people.” The press release also states that “the sides agreed on close cooperation in the future within the framework of the [Munich] International Conference in order to ensure that the information disseminated about Georgia is objective.”

Before arriving in Munich, Foreign Affairs Minister Ilia Darchiashvili visited Budapest, where he met with his Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó. The Ministers discussed Hungary’s upcoming presidency priorities in the Council of the EU and addressed Georgia’s progress towards EU membership, focusing on implementing nine EU conditions. According to the Foreign Ministry, Minister Szijjártó reaffirmed Hungary’s strong support for Georgia’s EU accession and offered practical assistance during the meeting.

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned its citizens of “the increased security risks” of visiting the occupied region of Abkhazia following the decision by the de-facto Supreme Court of Abkhazia to grant early release to an inhabitant of the region sentenced to nine years for the rape with extreme cruelty of a Russian tourist in 2019. The Russian MFA wrote on its Telegram channel that the Russian side received the news about the release of Edgar Abukhba with “extreme bewilderment.” The so-called supreme court of Abkhazia responded to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement by clarifying that the defendant was a minor when he committed the crime.

The Data of the Day

The National Statistics Office (Geostat) published preliminary data indicating that in January 2024, Georgia’s foreign trade decreased by 14.8% compared to the same period of 2023, totaling $1.34 billion in value. In January 2024, exports from Georgia decreased by 26.2% to $338.6 million, while imports rose by 10.1% to $1 billion. As a result, the country’s negative trade balance was $664.1 million, representing 49.5% of its foreign trade turnover.

In the same period, Turkey was Georgia’s largest trade partner, with $233 million in trade volume, followed by Russia with $190 million, China with $96 million, Azerbaijan with $93 million, and the United States with $75 million.