Maka Botchorishvili: Georgia’s Geopolitical Role Is Growing, Creating New Opportunities
The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Maka Botchorishvili participated in the Concordia Annual Summit, held on the sidelines of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly. At the panel discussion entitled “Southeastern Europe and the Black Sea as a Beacon of Stability,” Maka Botchorishvili spoke about Georgia’s growing geopolitical role, its partnership with the United States, European integration and the country’s economic development.
As Maka Botchorishvili noted, the importance of the South Caucasus is growing not only from a regional but also from a global perspective, creating new opportunities for Georgia.
The Deputy Prime Minister underscored the importance of developments taking place across the broader region for the United States and, in this context, highlighted the longstanding partnership between Georgia and the United States.
“Georgia has been contributing to U.S. and NATO-led missions for a long time, and we are proud of that partnership that we have developed throughout these decades,” Maka Botchorishvili noted.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs also spoke about the ongoing developments in the South Caucasus and Georgia’s role in promoting peace and stability in the region: “Georgia has always played an important role in promoting peace in the region and in contributing to the peaceful resolution of conflicts.”
According to the Minister, the ongoing developments in the region and the engagement of the United States in the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia are creating new opportunities in the region.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs also spoke about Georgia’s European aspirations and its relations with the European Union: “For Georgia, European integration and relations with the European Union are emotional and very much linked to Georgia's history and Georgia's longstanding aspirations to be part of Europe, and in this case part of European Union.”
“This is a momentum in this geopolitical context where Georgia has quite important geopolitical role to play, and that definitely requires development of different partnerships. But it does not mean that we are replacing our aspirations and we are replacing our intention to join European Union,” the Deputy Prime Minister noted.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs also spoke about the country’s economic development. According to Maka Botchorishvili, Georgia has recorded high rates of economic growth in recent years, creating opportunities to attract new projects and investments.
Concluding her remarks, Maka Botchorishvili underscored the importance of maintaining security and stability in the country.
"It has been quite complicated for our region, but we are proud that we managed to keep our country secure and stable. That is ground for economic development and developing cooperation in future,” the Minister for Foreign Affairs stated.
The panel discussion was also attended by Prime Minister of North Macedonia Hristijan Mickoski. The session was moderated by Symeon Tsomokos, President of the Delphi Economic Forum.