Prime minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze had a meeting with Ilham Aliev, President of Azerbaijan, on November 11, 2024, within the framework of the 29th UN climate change Conference held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
According to Irakli Kobakhidze, the leaders discussed sectoral cooperation and further deepening of partnerships in various projects, with particular emphasis on energy and energy security.
“One of the important topics we talked about was energy and energy security. We are connected by very important strategic projects, and we are also working together to further deepen cooperation in this direction, including within the framework of Middle Corridor initiative”- said Prime Minister of Georgia.
The two leaders also underlined the importance of the security challenges in the region and confirmed their willingness to contribute to ensuring peace and stability in the region.
Kobakhidze also noted that Georgia is paying a lot of attention to environmental protection. “This is one of the most important challenges for us. At the time, we wrote the appropriate guarantees at the level of the constitution, which are related to ecology, ecological rights, rights in the field of environmental protection, and, of course, we will talk about our experience with our partners,”- stated Prime Minister.
Commentary: Elections, Opposition, Controversial Laws
While PM Kobakhidze was visiting Azerbaijan, senior MPs of eight EU countries visited Georgia. Speaking to journalists, the Prime Minister commented on the visit.
“We refrained from meeting these people for a simple reason: some of the members of this delegation were directly involved in the election campaign and were themselves violating the election principle,” said Kobakhidze from Baku.
PM criticized the MPs, emphasizing that it “is not the attitude a European politician should have towards a sovereign country.”
Speaking to journalists, Kobakhidze also addressed two laws, the anti-LGBT law and the foreign agent law, adding that “After the changes in the U.S., the Americans themselves are going to adopt the type of law that we adopted in the Parliament of Georgia, it is about family values and protecting the interests of minors.”
Irakli Kobakhidze also emphasized readiness for the open discussions with international partners regarding the Foreign Agent law, claiming that politicians refused this kind of discussion, since “they have nothing to say either legally or politically.”
Head of the Georgian government underlined the importance of qualitative reset of relation with both the EU and the US linking it with three major events, such as the elections in Georgia and in the U.S and the end of war in Ukraine: “We think that war in Ukraine will come to an end, soon”- said PM.
Speaking to Georgian journalists, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze was asked about his assessment of the post-election process in Georgia and the position of opposition parties regarding the new composition of the next Parliament.
“Four years ago, the opposition made the same attempt and they achieved some success, because we were then forced, due to external interference, to enter into negotiations and sign the April 19 agreement, now they don’t even have the resources to do so, so the processes will proceed very easily,“ said Kobakhidze.
Recalling the pre-election talk of declaring political parties unconstitutional, he threatened that the government could take this step without a constitutional majority if opposition representatives “continue to violate the constitutional order”.
“Here we are talking about filing a constitutional lawsuit, which requires a small number of MPs. This is absolutely sufficient… On the other hand, the opposition is so weakened today that taking such measures may no longer be necessary, although it would not be bad for the long-term stable development of the country”- noted PM.
In addition, PM Kobakhidze stated that the Prosecutor’s Office started investigation immediately after the allegations of election violations surfaced, however the main reason why the Georgian opposition politicians do not go to the Prosecutor’s Office for questioning is that, he claimed, they “have no arguments.”
“As you can see, in Moldova there is no investigation despite the serious violation of the electoral process. The same goes for the US… When it comes to ballot secrecy, there was practically no ballot secrecy in most states, not to mention voting without ID in many states,” the Prime Minister said, adding that “if there is something to investigate, we should start with other countries.”
Also Read:
- 11/11/2024- Chairs of Foreign Affairs Committees of Eight EU Countries Visit Georgia
- 11/11/2024- Speaker Denounces Visit of Key European MPs, Refuses to Meet Them
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